Watch: Rep. Jamaal Bowman pulls fire alarm ahead of stopgap bill voting, calls it 'accident' later

A fire alarm was pulled by Socialist Rep. Jamaal Bowman in the Cannon House Office Building on Saturday (Sep 30), just before the House was about to vote on the crucial government funding bill, an incident which the New York Democrat called an 'accident'.

House Administration Committee Chairman Bryan Steil, who is a Republican from Wisconsin, revealed the incident in a statement adding that an investigation is underway.

Speaking to CNN, Steil on Saturday evening said that Bowman needed to be “far more forthcoming” about what exactly occurred when he took the step of pulling the fire alarm.

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“We know Jamaal Bowman pulled the fire alarm. Why he did that, it is pretty unclear. His initial explanation, that it was an accident, doesn’t seem to really pass muster,” Steil said while speaking to CNN.

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Steil further said that if the fire alarm was pulled by Bowman to interfere with the voting procedure of the House, an accusation which Bowman earlier claimed to be untrue, it would be “a serious violation of the law.”

A spokesperson for the GOP-controlled Administration Committee, confirming the steps taken to The New York Post, said, “An investigation into why it was pulled is underway.”

Thought alarm would open the door, insists Bowman

The office of Bowman claimed it was an accident, as the congressman, while speaking to the reporters said, “I was rushing to make a vote, I was trying to get to a door. I thought the alarm would open the door, and I pulled the fire alarm to open the door by accident.”

“I was just trying to get to my vote and the door that’s usually open wasn’t open, it was closed. I didn’t mean to cause confusion . . . I didn’t know it was going to trip the whole building,” he added.

“I want to be very clear, this was not me, in any way, trying to delay the vote. It was the exact opposite — I was trying urgently to get to a vote, which I ultimately did,” Bowman said.

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He added that he “met with the Sergeant at Arms and the Capitol Police” and explained what exactly happened, adding: “My hope is that no one will make more of this than what it was.”

Bowman stated that he further met House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and discussed the incident shortly after the House passed the funding stopgap measure, adding that Jeffries’ tone was “supportive” and “he understood that was a mistake.”

Speaker McCarthy compares it to Jan 6 Capitol attack

Meanwhile, House Speaker Kevin McCarthycalled for Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., to be punished for pulling the fire alarm in a Capitol office building and compared it to the Jan 6 rioters who attacked the building. He stated the House Ethics Committee should investigate the incident.

“I was really appalled watching Democrats’ actions today, to delay it, to get a shutdown. We watched how people have been treated if they’ve done something wrong in this Capitol. It would be interesting to see how he is treated and what he was trying to obstruct when it came to the American public,” McCarthy stated.

“I think ethics should look at this, but this is serious. This should not go without punishment. This is an embarrassment. You are elected to be a member of Congress,” said McCarthy adding, “You pulled a fire alarm, in a (matter) of hours before the government being shut down, trying to dictate that the government would shut down?”

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