Jamaal Bowman got a huge pass after pulling a fire alarm in a House office building while the Democrats were trying to delay a vote on a continuing resolution to avoid a government shutdown in late September.
He could have been charged with a felony or for trying to obstruct an official proceeding. But again, the magical "D" seemed to be in operation. He was just charged with Section 22–1319 (a) of the DC Code, which involves "willfully or knowingly give a false alarm of fire within the District of Columbia," which only carried the potential for six months of imprisonment.
Bowman entered a plea to the charge and only has to pay a $1000 fine and apologize to the Capitol Police. Then, under the agreement, the charge will be withdrawn in three months at a hearing on Jan. 29, 2024.
“How do you plead, guilty or not guilty,” asked D.C. Magistrate Judge Dorsey Jones.
“Guilty,” Bowman responded.
It's a laughable result for what he did and a screaming indictment of the two-tiered system of justice that we currently have.
But I have to hand it to CNN's Manu Raju. On Friday, he caught up to Bowman and nailed him on a very obvious problem with what Bowman has claimed about the incident versus what he just pled to.
REPORTER: Why'd you plead guilty to knowingly pulling a fire alarm when you said you didn't know it was a fire alarm?
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) November 3, 2023
JAMAAL BOWMAN: "Why are we still talking about this, man?"
REPORTER: "You weren't straight about what happened!"
BOWMAN: "I was very straight!" pic.twitter.com/tdNbhcnaSo
Raju asked Bowman, "Why'd you plead guilty to knowingly pulling that fire alarm when you said you didn't know it, initially told all of us you didn't know it was a fire alarm?"
Bowman got ticked off that Raju would dare to even ask him about such an obvious conflict in his statements."Why are we still talking about this, man?" he groused. "That's behind me, that's been adjudicated."
"But you weren't straight about what happened initially," Raju points out.
"I was very straight; I was straight from the very beginning," Bowman said, even as he was just caught in a falsehood.
But Raju persisted, "You said you didn't know [that it was a fire alarm]."
Bowman insisted he had been "straight" and then blew off another reporter's question on the same issue and asked for questions about "anything else."
Raju tried again, and Bowman tried to blow him off again, but Raju said, "But you're not answering this."
The bottom line is Bowman can't answer the question because then he'd have to admit he was just telling us a bunch of bull when he claimed he did it accidentally. If he had done it accidentally, he would have stayed on the scene to explain it. Instead, he fled and had multiple opportunities to tell the Capitol Police there was no fire, yet didn't do so, as the Capitol Police report notes. He didn't say anything until after they tracked him down and confronted him. Then he knew he was caught and had to come up with something.
Good for Raju for acting like a journalist. But the problem is, still, there are no real consequences if you're a Democrat for any such behavior.
People blasted Bowman for still trying to spread malarkey.
You lied. https://t.co/Ap8fVnIwU7 pic.twitter.com/DUzPOMZrII
— NRCC (@NRCC) November 3, 2023
🤣 straight liar. https://t.co/JLlbxFti8l
— Dean Cain (@RealDeanCain) November 3, 2023
Jamaal Bowman should be jailed… He knew what he was doing pulling the fire alarm. pic.twitter.com/5HCrKtiCRg
— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) November 3, 2023
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