Rep. Jamaal Bowman said Monday he was unaware of a memo from his office calling GOP lawmakers “Nazis” in response to Republican scrutiny over the New York Democrat pulling a fire alarm in a House office building.
“I just became aware that in our messaging guidance, there was inappropriate use of the term Nazi without my consent,” Mr. Bowman said in a post on X. “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.”
Earlier in the day, according to reports, Mr. Bowman’s office sent out guidance to House Democratic lawmakers’ offices, looking for talking points to support Mr. Bowman after he faced backlash for pulling the fire alarm. The incident occurred Saturday, when a GOP temporary spending bill to avert a government shutdown was about to be voted on.
One proposed response from Mr. Bowman’s office was, “Republicans need to instead focus their energy on the Nazi members of their party before anything else.”
Mr. Bowman admits that he pulled a fire alarm in a House office building hours before a possible government shutdown. Some Republicans have called for him to get the same justice as the Jan. 6 protesters received for their 2021 breach of the Capitol to obstruct official business.
Mr. Bowman said in a statement Saturday night that he pulled the Cannon House Office Building fire alarm because he was “rushing to make a vote” and thought that activating the alarm would open a nearby door.
“I came to a door that is usually open for votes but today would not open,” he said. “I am embarrassed to admit that I activated the fire alarm, mistakenly thinking it would open the door.”
The alarm led to an evacuation of the building while police checked for a threat.
It was not clear whether Mr. Bowman’s setting off the alarm specifically delayed Saturday’s House vote on a Republican spending bill to keep the government from shutting down.
But his move came while other Democrats were using numerous parliamentary tactics to delay a vote.
According to a GOP aide, Republicans suspect he was attempting to contribute to the Democrats’ floor-delaying tactics to stop a vote on the GOP-proposed stop-gap spending measure, which had caught them by surprise.
House Democrats, the GOP aide said, wanted the Democratic-controlled Senate to pass its own temporary spending bill, which included additional Ukraine funding, before the House GOP leadership could pass its spending measure in the lower chamber.
An investigation is now open into why the fire alarm was pulled, Rep. Bryan Steil, Wisconsin Republican and House
Administration Committee chairman, announced on X.
Under D.C. law, people convicted of knowingly or willfully giving a false alarm of fire within the city can be hit with a fine and imprisonment of up to six months.
The U.S. Capitol Police confirmed to The Washington Times that the agency has opened an investigation into “what happened and why.”
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said he believed the Ethics Committee should investigate the issue, and considered it a serious matter.
He referenced how Jan. 6 protesters were treated after they attempted to stop the Congress’ certification of the 2020 presidential-election victory of President Biden.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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