Two days after the extreme left Rep. Jamaal Bowman set off a fire alarm in a House office building, the lawmaker from the Bronx and Westchester set off a very different alert as he called on his colleagues to come to his defense Monday.
The 47-year-old’s team circulated a talking points memo to fellow Democrats that referred to GOP lawmakers as “Nazis,” as Brooklyn-Staten Island GOPer Nicole Malliotakis introduced a resolution to expel Bowman. of the house on acrobatics.
The resolution is unlikely to pass, as it needs the support of two-thirds of the chamber and Republicans currently hold a four-seat majority. But that didn’t stop Bowman from pulling out the swastika card.
“I believe Congressman Bowman when he says it was an accident,” read the offending passage. “Republicans need to focus their energy on the Nazi members of their party first and foremost.”
Bowman’s office later tried to withdraw the talking points, and the Democrat claimed his staff had slipped in the Nazi reference without his knowledge.
“I just became aware that in our messaging guide, there was an inappropriate use of the term Nazi without my consent,” he said. he wrote at X, formerly Twitter.
“I condemn the use of the term Nazi outside of its precise definition. It is important to specify the term Nazi to refer to members of the Nazi party and neo-Nazis.”
Bowman’s office did not immediately respond to a question about which staff member added the allegedly unsanctioned Nazi reference.
Michael Gerald, Bowman’s only declared challenger for the 2024 Democratic primary in New York’s 16th district, called the congressman’s actions and statements “the height of idiocy.”
“To invoke that kind of language is catastrophic,” Gerald told The Post, adding that he believed Bowman likely made the talking points “to deflect from his personal lack of moral judgment.”
“He heard, as we all did going to school, ‘Don’t pull the fire alarm,'” he continued, noting that Bowman must have “presided over countless fire drills” as a former director of secondary school
As a former New Jersey state trooper, Gerald also said it was “very irresponsible and a dereliction of duty” to flee the scene.
Malliotakis introduced the measure with about a dozen co-sponsors, arguing that Bowman deserved the punishment to interrupt an official proceeding.
“It’s not just the act of setting off a fire alarm. It was during an official procedure. That’s the same thing that those individuals who entered the Capitol on Jan. 6 have been after,” the Republican told “Fox and Friends” on Monday.
His team also reiterated Bowman’s repeated claim that he had made an “honest mistake” and was turned away by “confused signage”.
Footage shows the alarm that Bowman pulled is clearly marked with the word “FIRE” and is next to two signs giving explicit details of how to open the emergency door to the Cannon House office building .
“Emergency exit only!” read the signs, which Bowman would have needed only to turn 90 degrees to his right to see. “Press until the alarm sounds (3 seconds). The door will open in 30 seconds.”
“MAGA Republicans have used this as an opportunity to distract from their attempt to shut down the government and downplay the January 6th insurgents,” Bowman’s memo further stated.
Bowman’s alarm activation came amid a successful fight Saturday to avert a government shutdown, which was averted minutes before the 11:59 p.m. deadline.
Lawmakers overwhelmingly approved an interim spending bill that keeps federal operations running for another six weeks.
Bowman’s discussion memo suggests he was given the text of the bill about 15 minutes before the scheduled vote.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) stood on the floor for 52 minutes while members of his caucus scrutinized the bill for objectionable material.
Ultimately, only one Democrat, Mike Quigley of Illinois, voted against the bill, which passed the House 335-91.
“I was just trying to get to my vote,” Bowman said at the time. “The door that is normally open was not open. I didn’t want to cause confusion. I didn’t know I was going to trip the whole building. I thought it would help me open the door.”
Republican critics like Malliotakis have stressed that obstructing an official proceeding is against federal law punishable by fines and “no more than 20 years.”
“It is an extreme reach for MAGA Republicans to claim that Rep. Bowman intended to harm or destroy anyone or anything. The opposite is true: He was trying to do his job,” Bowman’s note added as to suggested talking point.
“I think there’s something to be said: The government is about to shut down. There’s a voting clock ticking down. Exits that are normally open in this building were suddenly closed,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio said Sunday. -Cortez on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Jeffries remained mum on the matter over the weekend, saying he was waiting to see security camera footage of the ordeal.
Bowman sat down for an interview with Capitol Police, who said Monday that it is still under investigation the matter There is also a House Administration Committee investigation into the incident.
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