Rep. Jamaal Bowman backpedals on ‘Nazi’ attack on Republicans in fire alarm debacle

Rep. Jamaal Bowman Monday scrambled to distance himself from his own office’s talking points about the weekend fire alarm debacle claiming that Republicans should deal with “Nazi” colleagues before criticizing him.

The progressive Bronx lawmaker said it was “inappropriate” to refer to GOP lawmakers as “Nazis” amid political back-and-forth over his setting off a Capitol Hill fire alarm ahead of a vote on the stopgap funding measure.

“I condemn the use of the term Nazi out of its precise definition,” Bowman tweeted. “It is important to specify the term Nazi to refer to members of the Nazi party & neo-Nazis.”

Bowman said the term was used “without my consent” but did not explain who compiled the talking points or how it could have been released by his office without his approval.

The two-page list of talking points mostly focused on Bowman’s spin over his claim that he accidentally triggered the alarm while trying to exit a closed door in a congressional office building Saturday.

But the seventh of nine talking points took an extreme turn.

“Republicans need to instead focus their energy on the Nazi members of their party before anything else,” the document produced by Bowman’s office said.

That was apparently directed at far right-wing Republicans who refused to go along with the stopgap spending bill. A small group of GOP lawmakers is now seeking to topple House Speaker Kevin McCarthy because he dared to compromise with Democrats.

The talking points were designed for distribution for fellow Democrats after Republicans furiously criticized Bowman over the incident.

Some GOP lawmakers accused Bowman of seeking to delay consideration of the bill that eventually averted a government shutdown, even though he supported the bill.

Emma Simon, Bowman’s digital press secretary who led Bowman’s initial defense of the fire alarm debacle, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.