Yes, Jamaal Bowman Deserves the January 6 Treatment

J6 protesters who did far less than Rep. Bowman have been charged with a serious felony resulting in long prison sentences. Republicans must ensure that Bowman faces the same standard of justice.

Congressional Democrats are coming to the defense of their demonstrably unhinged colleague, Representative Jamaal Bowman of New York. Bowman, last seen attempting to assault Rep. Tom Massie (R-Ky.), pulled a fire alarm in the Cannon House office building as debate over a continuing resolution to fund the federal government intensified Saturday afternoon.

Democrats complained they needed more time to review the 71-page proposal before voting on the temporary measure. Rep. Katherine Clark, the minority whip, quickly filed a motion to adjourn. As House members began voting on Clark’s motion around noon, Bowman pulled the fire alarm prompting an evacuation of the building. (Clark’s motion failed.)

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) posted a video on X to report the fire alarm had indeed been activated.

Bowman’s team released a statement several hours later insisting the whole thing was a big mistake: “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. I am embarrassed to admit that I activated the fire alarm, mistakenly thinking it would open the door.”

Capitol Police and the House Administration Committee announced investigations are underway. But if “no one is above the law”—a mantra peddled by Democrats, the corporate media, and Attorney General Merrick Garland among others, all evidence to the contrary—then Bowman should immediately be indicted under 18 USC 1512(c)(2), obstruction of an official proceeding.

As part of the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act to close a loophole related to tampering with evidence and witnesses, 1512(c)(2) states that “Whoever corruptly (or) —otherwise 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.” Joe Biden’s DOJ continues to weaponize the law’s vague language to turn many nonviolent January 6 protesters into convicted felons. (In an appellate ruling issued earlier this year on the use of the obstruction charge against Capitol protesters, one judge noted that “outside of the January 6 cases brought in this jurisdiction, there is no precedent for using § 1512(c)(2) to prosecute the type of conduct at issue in this case.”)

According to the DOJ’s latest update of the so-called “Capitol Breach” investigation, roughly 320 individuals so far have been charged with obstruction of an official proceeding for their conduct on January 6. It also is one of the charges in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s four-count indictment against Donald Trump.

DOJ’s justification for the charge is that those involved in the protest contributed to delaying the vote to certify the 2020 election results. Indictments uniformly reference a defendant’s attempt “to stop, delay, and hinder Congress's certification of the Electoral College vote.”

Prosecutors have brought the charge against protesters accused of no other serious crime as well as individuals who didn’t even enter the building or who entered after Congress recessed and the building was evacuated:

• Jacob Chansley, one of the most recognizable figures tied to the events of January 6, was indicted for obstruction of an official proceeding and other offenses a few days after the Capitol protest. Despite his nonviolent entry into the building and friendly interactions with Capitol Police, Chansley was immediately detained and denied release from custody. He pleaded guilty to the obstruction count in July 2021 after spending months in solitary confinement; Judge Royce Lamberth then sentenced Chansley to 41 months in prison.

• Matthew Perna was arrested and charged with obstruction and three misdemeanors in February 2021. Perna entered the Capitol more than 20 minutes after the joint session recessed on January 6. He pleaded guilty in December 2021 to all counts; U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Matthew Graves notified Perna’s attorney that the government would seek years in prison for the obstruction conviction. Upon hearing the news, Perna hanged himself in his garage in February 2022.

• Several members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers were charged and convicted at trial of obstruction of an official proceeding. Defendants include Thomas Caldwell, a 65-year-old disabled Naval veteran who didn’t go into the building that day and Enrique Tarrio, the ex-Proud Boy leader who was in a Baltimore hotel on January 6.

At trial, jurors have been presented with a remarkably low burden of proof. Here are jury instructions in the case of the Proud Boys: “The term ‘official proceeding’ includes a proceeding before the Congress. In order to find a defendant guilty of corruptly obstructing an official proceeding, you must find that the government proved each of the following four elements beyond a reasonable doubt: First, the defendant attempted to or did obstruct or impede an official proceeding. Second, the defendant intended to obstruct or impede the official proceeding. Third, the defendant acted knowingly, with awareness that the natural and probable effect of his conduct would be to obstruct or impede the official proceeding. Fourth, the defendant acted corruptly.”

Acting corruptly, according to the government, requires the use of “unlawful means”—such as illegally pulling a fire alarm.

And his excuse notwithstanding, Bowman’s action did interfere with Saturday’s proceedings. Rep. Greene explained in a post on Sunday that “Everyone had to go down the stairs to get out and I waited until my entire staff was out before I went to vote. We couldn’t go back in for over an hour.”

For perspective, the delay in the January 6 proceedings was less than six hours.

Further, comments by Congressional Democrats suggest they were seeking ways to buy time before the final vote. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, also of New York, condemned Republicans for violating their promise to allow 72 hours between introducing legislation and scheduling a vote.

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Jeffries was referring to his use of the “magic minute” privilege for House leaders, which allows them to speak without a time limitation; Jeffries’ Saturday stemwinder lasted just under an hour.

So, did Jeffries’ “time and space” plan involve asking his New York City congressional colleague to pull a fire alarm? Did other members suggest such a stunt during their caucus meeting with the understanding that Democrats and supporters of Democrats—for example, Matthew Graves last year dropped charges against crew members of “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” for their misconduct in the Capitol—are never held to the same legal standard as Republicans?

It is long past time for that to change. Congressional Republicans are now obligated to keep up the pressure on the DOJ and Graves’ office in particular to bring criminal charges against Bowman for obstructing an official proceeding.

Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy called Bowman’s act “a new low” and challenged the DOJ to treat him in the same fashion as January 6 protesters. “We watched how people have been treated if they’ve done something wrong in this Capitol. Be interesting to see how he is treated on what he was trying to obstruct when it came to the American public,” McCarthy said Saturday after the House passed the stopgap funding measure by a vote of 335-91. (Ninety Republicans voted no.)

McCarthy must be a leader, not a bystander, in this scandal. House Republicans this week should send a referral to the DOJ seeking a criminal indictment against Bowman on the obstruction count at minimum. After nearly three years of watching the DOJ egregiously abuse the law in the selective prosecution of Americans who protested Joe Biden’s election on January 6, Republicans can finally turn the tables and expose how the destructive legal precedents set by this DOJ will, and should, ultimately backfire on their own.