Two days after far-left Rep. Jamaal Bowman set off a fire alarm in a congressional office building, the Bronx and Westchester lawmaker triggered a very different alert while asking his colleagues to come to his defense.
The 47-year-old’s team circulated a memo of talking points for his Democratic colleagues that used the term “Nazi” to counter Republican attacks — as Brooklyn and Staten Island GOPer Nicole Malliotakis introduced a resolution to expel Bowman from the House over the stunt.
Malliotakis pitched the measure with approximately a dozen co-sponsors, arguing that Bowman deserved the punishment for disrupting an official proceeding.
“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. 6th,” the Republican told “Fox and Friends” Monday.
The resolution is unlikely to be approved, since it needs the backing of two-thirds of the chamber and Republicans currently hold a four-seat majority. But that didn’t stop Bowman’s staffers from pulling the swastika card.
“I believe Congressman Bowman when he says this was an accident,” read one suggested talking point in the Democrat’s memo. “Republicans need to instead focus their energy on the Nazi members of their party before anything else.”
It is not immediately clear which Republican members of Congress Bowman believes is a Nazi. His office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
His team also reiterated Bowman’s repeated assertion that he had made an “honest mistake” and was thrown off by “confusing signage.”
Images 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 turn 90 degrees to his right to see. “Push until alarm sounds (3 seconds). Door will unlock in 30 seconds.”
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“MAGA Republicans have used this as an opportunity to distract from their attempt to shut the government down and to minimize January 6th insurrectionists,” the Bowman memo further stated.
Bowman’s alarm activation came amid a successful Saturday scramble to avert a government shutdown, which was avoided minutes before a 11:59 p.m. deadline.
Lawmakers overwhelmingly approved a stopgap spending bill that keeps federal operations going for another six weeks.
The Bowman talking points memo suggests he was given the text of the bill about 15 minutes before the scheduled vote.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) stalled for time by speaking on the floor for 52 minutes while members of his conference skimmed 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’s usually open wasn’t open. I didn’t mean to cause confusion. I didn’t know it was going to trip the whole building. I thought it would help me open the door.”
Republican critics such as Malliotakis have emphasized that obstructing an official proceeding is against federal law punishable by fines and “not more than 20 years.”
“It is an extreme reach on the part of MAGA Republicans to assert that Rep Bowman intended to harm or destruct anyone or thing. The exact opposite is true: he was trying to do his job,” the Bowman memo added as a suggested talking point.
“I think there’s there’s something to be said about — the government’s about to shut down. There’s a vote clock that’s going down. The exits that are normally open in that building were suddenly closed,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.
Jeffries was mum on the matter over the weekend, contending that he was waiting to see the security camera footage of the ordeal.
Bowman sat for an interview with Capitol Police, which said Monday it is still investigating the matter. A House Administration Committee probe into the incident is also underway.
