Expulsion from Congress is extremely rare. In our nation's entire history, only six House members have ever been expelled—the most recent being George Santos. The last time it happened was in 2002, when Rep. James Traficant (D-Ohio) was expelled following his conviction on multiple federal charges. That expulsion took place 22 years after the prior expulsion of Rep. Michael J. Myers (D-Pa.), who was convicted of bribery in the Abscam scandal. Before that, you have to go back to 1861, when three Democrats were expelled for supporting the Confederate rebellion.
Of the three U.S. representatives who were expelled, only one was not convicted of a crime at the time of his expulsion: George Santos. As such, some House Republicans are crying foul and demanding that a Democrat who has recently pleaded guilty to a crime face expulsion, or at least censure.
That Democrat, of course, is Rep. Jamaal Bowman, who was caught on video setting off a fire alarm in the Cannon House Office Building. Democrats have long claimed that Bowman's actions weren't particularly serious and don't merit any sort of reprimand from the House.
"There are lots of criminal offenses. Jaywalking is a criminal offense. I don’t think we would expel somebody from Congress for that,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) told The Daily Caller. “Do I think somebody should be expelled from Congress because they pulled the fire detector that they think they need to get out of the building? No…George Santos’ offenses were of a very grave and serious nature, repeated over time.”
But a review of the evidence makes it clear that it was no accident. This was clearly an attempt to delay a House vote on the stopgap resolution to avert a shutdown. Just watch the surveillance footage. Bowman claimed he thought the fire alarm was a device to open the doors, but the surveillance footage shows he never attempted to open the door and even stole a sign posted on the door indicating it was an emergency exit.
Surveillance footage of @JamaalBowmanNY pulling the fire alarm at the Cannon House Office Building appears to show Bowman didn’t actually attempt to open the doors to exit. It does show him stealing one emergency exit sign and knocking down the other before pulling the alarm and… pic.twitter.com/ZEMm0JO7BA
— Matt Margolis (@mattmargolis) October 26, 2023
Bowman pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges relating to the incident, getting a mere slap on the wrist despite the fact his actions technically violated federal law. According to 18 U.S. Code 1512(c), “Whoever corruptly … obstructs, influences, or impedes any official proceeding, or attempts to do so, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.”
Will the Biden administration charge Bowman? Don't count on it. Even the House Ethics Committee, which is controlled by Republicans, declined to investigate the incident after Bowman's guilty plea for the misdemeanor charge. But, now, the expulsion of Santos seems to have sparked a fire in the belly of some Republicans who think that if Santos had to go, so should Bowman.
Related: The Dangerous Santos Precedent
“He’s been convicted of a crime. George Santos wasn’t. He’s pled guilty to a crime. George Santos has not been convicted of anything," Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) told The Daily Caller. “This is a terrible precedent, a shameful precedent was just set,” she said of the expulsion of Santos.
“Jamaal Bowman literally pulled a fire alarm to disrupt proceedings. He pled guilty to the underlying charges that were negotiated. Jamaal Bowman really is unfit to be in Congress,” Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) also told the outlet. “The fact is, there should be consequences. And somebody should start asking the five Democrats on the ethics committee why they are blocking an investigation into Jamaal Bowman.”
Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.), who sits on the House Ethics Committee, suggested that action against Bowman may begin as early as next week.
“I think that when he falsely pulled the fire alarm and tried to interfere with acts of Congress…he has to answer for his actions,” Garbarino said. “I don’t know what will be put forward. I don’t know if there’ll be an expulsion resolution put forward or censure. We’ll see what happens when we come back next week.”
Will Republicans do it? I'd love for them to try. But why wasn't this done before Santos was expelled?
