‘Squad’ Democrat Jamaal Bowman gets fired up when asked why he changed story on alarm stunt

Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) dodged questions from reporters about why he changed his story about pulling a House office building fire alarm last month.

CNN’s Chief Congressional Correspondent Manu Raju pressed Bowman about the incident this week, to which Bowman replied: “Why are you still talking about this man? That’s behind me, that’s been adjudicated, that’s done, paid the fine, moved forward — and, in three months, it’ll be dismissed.”

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When pressed further about why the congressman wasn’t straight from the start after initially telling reporters he did not intend to trigger an alarm, Bowman said, “I was very straight. I was straight from the very beginning.”

Bowman triggered a fire alarm last month that forced the evacuation of a House office building for over an hour. The Democratic congressman said it was an “innocent mistake.”

Bowman’s chief of staff, Sarah Iddrissu, said on X, the social media website formerly known as Twitter, that the congressman “did not realize he would trigger a building alarm as he was rushing to make an urgent vote.” The morning after, Bowman faced an investigation.

Democrats were accused of trying to delay a vote as Republicans pushed through a stopgap measure to extend funding for 45 days and avoid a partial government shutdown. All Republicans and most Democrats, including Bowman, moved to pass the bill.

That deadline now looms in 14 days as House Republicans scramble to avert the shutdown.

Bowman vehemently denied claims from Republicans that he was attempting to delay any vote and said his only intent was to get to a vote on the House floor, noting he was in a rush.

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Bowman was charged last week with a misdemeanor for pulling the fire alarm and pleaded guilty, and he also agreed to pay a $1,000 fine and issue an apology.

The Washington Examiner reached out to Bowman’s office for further comment.