Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) pleaded guilty on Thursday to one misdemeanor for falsely pulling a fire alarm in a congressional office building last month just as lawmakers were about to vote on a short-term government funding measure to avoid a government shutdown.
The progressive former middle school principal was charged Wednesday and appeared in D.C. Superior Court Thursday for his arraignment.
WATCH: Democrat Rep. Jamaal Bowman turns himself in to police after being charged for pulling the fire alarm in a House office building pic.twitter.com/ro4eMwn68e
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) October 26, 2023
Bowman faced six months jail time, but in a plea deal, he agreed to pay a $1,000 fine and write an apology to Capitol Police. After three months of probation, the charge will be withdrawn.
From colleague Jake Gibson. Dem NY Rep Bowman pleads guilty to pulling a CapHill fire alarm last month. Must write a letter of apology to USCP. Judge tells Bowman he could be sentenced to 6 months in jail and a fine of $1,000.00 if he doesn’t write the letter.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) October 26, 2023
The New York lawmaker claimed he had pulled the fire alarm because he was trying to open emergency doors in order to go vote. However, Breitbart News first broke exclusively that Bowman threw emergency warning signs to the floor before pulling the alarm and running down a set of stairs before exiting the building from another floor, contradicting his claims.
On Thursday, Bowman told reporters before pleading guilty that he felt “good.”
“What I did was against D.C. law,” Bowman told reporters before entering his plea, according to The Hill. “I really regret that this caused so much confusion and that people had to evacuate, and I just caused a disturbance. I hate that. It’s pretty embarrassing,” he said.
According to the outlet, prosecutors at Thursday’s hearing said they would have shown that Bowman pulled the alarm knowing there was no emergency or fire and that after he pulled the alarm, he did not tell Capitol Police that it was him.
Republicans have drafted a resolution to expel Bowman from Congress.
Bowman said Republicans “have to do what they have to do,” and said he has been cooperating with Republicans “from the very beginning.”
Bowman continued to claim he was not trying to disrupt congressional proceedings, but acknowledged that he broke D.C. law by pulling the alarm.
“I said, from the very beginning, I was not trying to disrupt any congressional proceedings. I’m glad that the investigation yielded that. And so it was against D.C. law, and I got to take responsibility for it, which I’m here to do,” he said.
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