Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez hits Republicans for tearing into Jamaal Bowman after he pulled fire alarm

WASHINGTON – Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., chided House GOP lawmakers for not going after embattled Rep. George Santos R-N.Y., with the same voracity they have for her fellow progressive, Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., after he pulled a fire alarm in a House office building.

Reacting to GOP calls to expel Bowman from Congress, Ocasio-Cortez said in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” that House Republicans “should really check their own values” considering Santos, who has been accused of fraud, money laundering and lying to Congress and is still a lawmaker.

“They are protecting someone who has not only committed wire fraud, not only defrauded veterans, not only lied to congressional investigators, but is openly gloating about it is absolutely humiliating to the Republican caucus and I think that they should really check their own values,” Ocasio-Cortez said.

While House Democrats on Saturday were delaying a vote on a short-term stopgap resolution to avoid a government shutdown to read the bill’s text, Bowman pulled a fire alarm in the Cannon House office building.

Ocasio-Cortez defended Bowman and suggested the urgency of the vote to keep the government open led to confusion.

“I think there’s something to be said about the government’s about to shut down, there’s a vote clock that’s going down, the exits that are normally open in that building were suddenly closed,” Ocasio-Cortez said.

Bowman later apologized for the incident and said it was an accident.

“I came to a door that is usually open for votes but today would not open.  I am embarrassed to admit that I activated the fire alarm, mistakenly thinking it would open the door.  I regret this and sincerely apologize for any confusion this caused,” he said in a statement.

After the House successfully voted to keep the government open, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., vowed to introduce a resolution to boot Bowman from Congress, saying in a post on X, formerly Twitter, “this action warrants expulsion.”

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., also questioned Bowman’s actions, saying at a press conference Saturday that “this should not go without punishment.”

“Give me a break,” Ocasio-Cortez said in response to the attacks on Bowman from House Republicans.

“(Santos is) indicted on everything from fraud to actual lying of House investigators and they have been buddying up and giggling with him on the House floor, and they are protecting someone who has lied to the American people, lied to the United States House of Representatives, lied to Congressional investigators,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “But they’re filing a motion to expel a member who in a moment of panic was trying to escape a vestibule? Give me a break.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: AOC slams GOP for criticizing Bowman over fire alarm instead of Santos