BREAKING NEWS: Jamaal Bowman Faces Reporters' Questions After Pleading Guilty To Pulling Fire Alarm
Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) speaks to reporters after pleading guilty to pulling fire alarm.
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00:00 As I said from the very beginning,
00:01 I was not trying to disrupt
00:03 any congressional proceedings.
00:05 I'm glad that the investigation yielded that.
00:07 And so it's against DC law
00:09 and I gotta take responsibility for it,
00:11 which I'm here to do.
00:12 And looking forward to just, you know,
00:14 taking the deal, paying the fine,
00:16 and in three months, just being dismissed
00:18 and continuing my work.
00:19 - A lot of folks wanna know
00:20 why you didn't tell anybody when you pulled it.
00:23 - Yeah, I mean, you remember that day, right?
00:24 It was like, it was a lot going on.
00:26 It was the vote to keep the government open.
00:28 It was a motion to adjourn.
00:30 So I was just in a rush, man, you know,
00:32 trying to get down the street.
00:33 I was actually running to the Capitol at one point.
00:35 So I was just in a hurry
00:36 and didn't get a chance to do it.
00:38 And, you know, yeah, so that was all my bad.
00:40 - And what about Republicans who are calling this out
00:43 and saying, look, I mean, you've had people
00:45 who came into the Capitol building on January 6th.
00:48 - Yeah, that's crazy.
00:49 Yeah, that's crazy.
00:51 Immediately likening me to an insurrectionist
00:54 and what happened on January 6th.
00:56 I mean, this is what they do.
00:57 They weaponize any opportunity they can.
01:00 This is what they did in this situation,
01:02 just so we don't focus on their own dysfunction
01:05 and destruction of their own party.
01:07 So this is what they do.
01:09 - And you're standing by your word
01:10 that you did not have any intention to slow things.
01:13 I mean, Democrats were trying to stall this vote
01:15 on the House floor. - Hell no, yeah, hell no.
01:17 I mean, when I ran into the Capitol,
01:20 I went to go vote and someone told me,
01:22 go downstairs, there's a meeting.
01:23 So I didn't even know that meeting was taking place
01:25 for the motion to, I forgot what the vote was, but yeah.
01:30 So no, absolutely not, hell no.
01:32 - Okay, thank you, sir. - All right, thanks.
01:33 I appreciate it.
01:34 - Thank you.
01:35 - This is for what it is.
01:36 - Excuse me?
01:37 - You know, I hate the confusion that it caused
01:40 and I really hate that Capitol Police
01:43 and other resources had to be used to respond to this.
01:46 So I'm really apologetic about that
01:48 and I'm gonna inform Capitol Police of that.
01:51 Yeah, I really hate that part.
01:52 I'm glad it wasn't, I'm glad no one was hurt
01:54 or nothing like that took place, you know what I mean?
01:57 So hopefully, you know, pay the fine,
01:59 three months from now it'll be dismissed
02:01 and I'll be able to just continue to serve my district.
02:03 - You mean it'll be dismissed,
02:04 like it'll be expunged from your record?
02:07 - I believe so, yes.
02:08 - That's the deal? - Yes, yeah.
02:09 - With Capitol Police?
02:11 - ACD, the DCAG.
02:13 - Okay. - Yeah.
02:14 - Thank you. - All right, thank you.
02:15 - Anything to say to the ex- - Can you tell us
02:16 what the process was like this morning?