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‘The Video Speaks For Itself’: GOP Rep Doesn’t Buy Bowman’s Explanation About Fire Alarm Incident

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Republican Rep. Mike Lawler of New York ripped Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York Thursday over his explanation for pulling a fire alarm at a Capitol office building.

Bowman pulled a fire alarm in the Cannon House Office Building shortly before the House of Representatives passed a stopgap spending measure to avert a government shutdown on Sept. 30; Bowman turned himself in Thursday after he was charged with a misdemeanor over the incident. “The video is pretty clear that he tore the signs down and pulled the alarm and walked past multiple law enforcement officers without saying ‘Hey, I made a mistake, I accidentally pulled the alarm,’” Lawler told “Fox and Friends” co-hosts Lawrence Jones, Ainsley Earhardt, Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade.

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“I think the video speaks for itself. I was flying home from Westchester last week, he happened to sit down next to me in the same row, Lawler continued. I said ‘Thank God we are not sitting in the exit row, because Lord knows what he would have done.’”

Bowman claimed he was in a hurry to get to the vote when he pulled the alarm.

“Today as I was rushing to make a vote, I came to a door that is usually open for votes but today would not open,” Bowman said in a statement released after the incident.

Bowman later circulated talking points to fellow Democrats that described some Republican members of the House of Representatives as “Nazis” after Republicans criticized him for pulling the fire alarm.

“Look, he obviously pulled the fire alarm. He obviously did it to stall and create chaos. That’s what he is. He is a chaos agent,” Lawler said. “This is somebody who voted against condemning Hamas yesterday. It’s disgusting. It’s despicable.”

“I don’t know how you could be a member of Congress and not condemn Hamas,” Lawler continued. “They are brutal terrorists who slaughtered Jews. The biggest massacre of Jews since the holocaust. This is a no-brainer.”

Bowman did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.