- Video footage showed Bowman pulling the fire alarm on September 30 during a chaotic weekend vote on maintaining government funding
- He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge brought by the D.C. attorney general related to pulling a false fire alarm and agreed to pay the maximum fine
- Ethics, which is evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats, voted not to create an investigative subcommittee and not send a full report to the House
The House Ethics Committee will not investigate Jamaal Bowman’s fire alarm robbery after he was already charged with a crime by law enforcement in Washington, D.C., it was announced Wednesday.
Video footage showed Bowman pulling the fire alarm on Sept. 30 during a chaotic weekend vote on government funding. He pleaded guilty to a charge brought by the D.C. Attorney General related to pulling a false fire alarm and agreed to pay the maximum fine.
The indictment initiated the ethics panel’s process of investigating a lawmaker. But the committee, made up of an equal number of Republicans and Democrats, voted not to create an investigative subcommittee or send a full report to the House.
“A majority of the members of the committee did not agree to the establishment of one [Investigative Subcommittee] or report to the House of Representatives on Rep. Bowman’s conduct,” Chairman Michael Guest, R-Miss., and Ranking Member Susan Wild, D-Pa., said in a statement.
Republicans accused Bowman of pulling the fire alarm to delay a vote on a stopgap bill to fund the government.
Bowman in action: The former headmaster looks at a door
Bowman makes his way to the fire alarm
Bowman reaches for the fire alarm
Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy had submitted a “clean” continuing resolution (CR) to extend the funding deadline and avert a shutdown hours before the deadline. Democrats had wanted more time to read the bill and make sure they weren’t being misled.
Under the agreement with prosecutors, Bowman must pay a $1,000 fine and apologize to the Capitol Police.
The New York Democrat called allegations that he intentionally sounded the alarm “complete nonsense” and claimed he thought he was opening a door.
But Capitol Police referred him to prosecutors, who charged him with a misdemeanor and ordered him to appear in court.
The Sept. 30 incident occurred in the Cannon House Office Building and sparked calls among Republicans for his expulsion from Congress. But days later, McCarthy was ousted as speaker, sending the House into a tailspin and pushing Bowman’s punishment into the background.
Received from @NY1: Footage of Rep. Bowman pulling the fire alarm in the Cannon House Office Building on September 30th.
Bowman pleaded guilty in court this morning to “intentionally or knowingly setting off a false fire alarm” in Washington. pic.twitter.com/HaBBAaLQqI
— Kevin Frey (@KevinFreyTV) October 26, 2023
Bowman, right, will not face an ethics committee investigation
The charge was “intentionally and knowingly.” [giving] “A false fire alarm, a violation of D.C. law,” and the New York Democrat was ordered to appear in court for arraignment on Thursday.
“I thought the alarm would open the door,” Bowman originally told reporters about the incident.
“I was in a rush to vote, I was trying to get to a door.”
Bowman called the idea that he pulled the fire alarm to delay a vote “complete nonsense.”
After the former school principal made the deal with prosecutors, he changed his tune: “I am responsible for setting off a fire alarm, I will pay the fine imposed and I look forward to these charges being finally dropped,” he said in an explanation.
Jamaal Bowman gets off scot-free: Democrat will NOT be investigated by the House Ethics Division after he was slapped with a misdemeanor and $1,000 fine for pulling a fire alarm on Capitol Hill