Bowman joins the nutsy party
Fire-&-phony rep. smears ‘Nazi’ GOPers
Two days after far-left Rep. Jamaal Bowman set off a fire alarm in a House office building, the Bronx and Westchester Democrat triggered a very different alert while asking his colleagues to come to his defense Monday.
Bowman’s team circulated a memo of talking points for his fellow Democrats that referred to “Nazi” Republican lawmakers — as Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-SI) introduced a resolution to expel Bowman, 47, from the House over the stunt.
The resolution is unlikely to be approved because it needs the backing of two-thirds of the chamber, where Republicans hold a four-seat majority.
But that didn’t stop Bowman from pulling the swastika card.
“I believe Congressman Bowman when he says this was an accident,” read the offending part of the Democrat’s memo. “Republicans need to instead focus their energy on the Nazi members of their party before anything else.”
His office later tried to pull back the talking points, and Bowman claimed his staff had slipped in the Nazi reference unbeknownst to him.
“I just became aware that in our messaging guidance, there was inappropriate use of the term Nazi without my consent,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
“I condemn the use of the term Nazi out of its precise definition. It is important to specify the term Nazi to refer to members of the Nazi party & neo-Nazis.”
Bowman’s office did not respond to a question about which staffer added the purportedly unsanctioned Nazi reference.
Malliotakis pitched the expulsion measure with approximately a dozen co-sponsors, arguing that Bowman deserved the punishment for disrupting congressional activities Saturday.
“It’s not just the act of pulling a fire alarm. It was during an official proceeding. That is the same thing that they have gone after those individuals who walked into the Capitol on Jan. 6,” she told “Fox and Friends” Monday morning.
The Bowman memo also reiterated his assertion that he had made an “honest mistake” and was thrown off by “confusing signage.”
Stark warning signs
Photos show the alarm Bowman pulled is clearly marked with the word “FIRE” — and is located next to two signs that provide explicit details on how to open the emergency door at the Cannon House Office Building.
“Emergency Exit Only!” read the signs, which Bowman would have only needed to glance to his right to see. “Push until alarm sounds (3 seconds). Door will unlock in 30 seconds.”
“If it really was just an accident, when the Capitol Police came to interview you, why would you lawyer up right away?” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) asked “Fox and Friends” Monday, adding of the former middleschool principal: “His behavior has been unbecoming.”
“If you have been a principal, you’ve had fire alarms and you’ve had children pull fire alarms,” McCarthy added. “So that’s where you go? To this childish action?”
Bowman sat for an interview with Capitol Police, which said Monday it was still investigating the matter.