The House Ethics Committee has dropped its investigation into Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., over his pulling of a fire alarm in the Capitol building last September, NBC News reports.
Bowman, who was formally censured by the House over the incident last month, insists that he did not intentionally set off the alarm and was only trying to open a locked door as the House was called for a vote. He pleaded guilty in October to pulling the alarm, was fined $1,000, and agreed to write a letter of apology to the chief of U.S. Capitol Police.
The House later voted to censure Bowman, and the panel's Chairman Michael Guest, R-Miss., and ranking member Rep. Susan Wild, D-Pa., recently said in a statement that "further review of Representative Bowman's conduct would be moot" because of this censure. They also noted that Bowman has complied with the terms of his deferred sentencing agreement.
Bowman wrote in a letter to colleagues prior to the censure vote: "Unfortunately, during and after the fire alarm incident, communication was difficult for legal reasons. To be clear, I was simply trying to vote urgently amidst the chaos of that day and help prevent a government shutdown. There was absolutely no intent to create any issues. I've taken full accountability for my actions and apologized to everyone involved and directly to the Capitol Police."
The New York Democrat later criticized the censure vote against him as "a Republican attempt to continue chaos that they hope will disguise their incompetence."