Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman pulled a fire alarm right before an important vote on funding the government. Many accused him of trying to delay the vote. But he claimed he was just trying to open a door and had no idea it would actually trigger the fire alarm. Is that excuse believable at all? Glenn, who has been known to accidentally pull fire alarms all the time, reviews the evidence and reveals the only somewhat plausible way Bowman could have possibly thought pulling the alarm would open the door ... maybe. Plus, he and Stu review Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's "delightfully stupid" defense of her progressive colleague.
Transcript
Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors
GLENN: Okay. So I -- let me just -- oh, jeez.
Oh. I am sorry. I -- I was trying to open my desk drawer to get another pain. And I didn't know how to open it.
And I just pulled the -- I thought that would open the desk -- it's a false alarm, you can shut it off now. Oh, boy.
Wow.
It's going to be one of those days.
STU: They need to label it better. You can't tell.
GLENN: Right. It says right here, pull in case of fire. Oh, no.
STU: No.
GLENN: My finger slipped. I didn't mean. It was a false alarm.
False alarm. We can -- thank you. Oh, my.
You know, this -- this happens more than you think. You know, I feel pretty stupid right now right now. Because everybody says, it's a fire alarm, it's clearly marked.
When was the last time you pulled the fire alarm by mistake? When was the last time you met somebody who pulled it by mistake?
And I would say, never. Okay?
I mean, yes, I knew somebody in grade school who pulled it intentionally.
But that's the only time, I've ever seen anyone involved in pulling a firearm.
Because they're clearly marked. Now, that's what you might think. However, there are a lot of people, a lot -- well, there's one person, who thought it would open a door. This is what happened, this weekend.
STU: In the building, he works in every day --
GLENN: Well, it's probably a door he's never been to.
STU: Does he think the doors work differently in different parts of the building? Like they just operate.
GLENN: I don't know what you mean.
STU: There's just a handle separate from the door?
GLENN: Well, no. He couldn't -- I mean, the door was marked.
STU: Right. Okay. Okay.
GLENN: Push the lever, and door will open and sound the alarm.
And said, it will sound -- push the lever, and alarm will sound for 15 seconds. Door will open.
And that was clearly marked on the door on the lever.
But he said, he needed to get out. Because, well, he had to get to a vote. Now, a lot of people will say that Jamal bowman, was pulling the fire alarm, to make sure everyone in the Capitol, got out of the Capitol.
So he would disrupt. What do they call it? Oh, an official proceeding.
STU: Hmm. Hmm. Sounds odd.
GLENN: But he was --
STU: Because you're not supposed to disrupt official proceedings. We've learned that quite a bit.
GLENN: Gosh, Stu, I'm sorry. I couldn't get this jar of pickles open. I was just going to have a pickle while I was listening to you.
And I couldn't get it open, and I pulled the fire alarm. I thought maybe that would -- it says twist to open right here on the --
STU: Well, they should be clearer on that.
GLENN: It was another false alarm! Thank you. Oh, man.
STU: Close call.
GLENN: It happens all the time, doesn't it?
GLENN: Now we have to delay the show?
We what?
STU: We have to delay the show.
GLENN: I just pulled the fire alarm because you said it would delay the show.
STU: Now, we can't do a show while the fire alarm is sounding.
GLENN: Sorry, guys. We all have to go away. Good night, everybody.
STU: Well, now it's off. So we can do the show again. I mean, this is unbelievable.
The idea that we're supposed to believe this.
GLENN: Well, AOC, she believes it.
Now, she was the one. She was the one who had never seen a disposal before.
Remember, she did an Instagram thing. She flipped a switch. And said, I don't know what this switch does by my sink. And she turns it. And it's the disposal.
And she goes, oh, my gosh. What is that?
I've never seen one of those. I don't know what that disposal is.
I've never seen heard of it.
Maybe if I do this, I can close it. Will it close the disposal?
I'm just trying to close the disposal!
STU: It really should have sent AOC to do this job.
Because people would have legitimately believed that she would have pulled the fire alarm and the door opened. She's the only person I know, that would actually believe it. I would totally buy it from her.
GLENN: Yeah. Now, first of all, let me give you AOC.
Here she is.
VOICE: I will be honest a bit. It doesn't really make sense to me, his explanation.
Did you talk to him? What's going on?
VOICE: Yeah. I think if you do see some photos of the sign. I think there's something to be said, about the government is about to shut down. There's a clock that's going down. The exits that were normally opened have been suddenly closed.
STU: Suddenly.
VOICE: So I -- what I'm here to say is that --
STU: What I'm here to say is...
GLENN: Capitol Police and Jamaal Bowman are active, and he's fully participating. And saying, there was a misunderstanding.
STU: Hold on.
He's active and fully participating in saying that there was a misunderstanding?
GLENN: Yes. He was actively --
STU: That is not our language.
GLENN: No. He was active --
STU: What language is that? What combination of words?
GLENN: That's American, okay?
You're American in you, speak American.
STU: She is delightfully stupid.
(laughter)
I know -- I know people don't like her.
I understand that. But I just find her just wonderful. She's so dumb. And so public about it.
GLENN: Hang. Hang on.
STU: What happened?
GLENN: There was apparently, one of our listeners was opening their mind.
STU: Okay. Oh, no.
GLENN: And they thought that's how they did it. Apparently not.
So false alarm!
STU: I mean, she is -- it's not like this is the first time she's ever been on television.
If that were the case. You might say, wow. She's really struggling in this moment.
GLENN: I want to ask you.
I want to ask you. Now, I have a method to the madness. Just to go with me.
STU: Sure.
GLENN: What does a fire alarm look like?
STU: It's a little handle. Usually says fire.
GLENN: Red and white, yeah? Where is it usually?
STU: On the wall.
GLENN: On the wall, okay.
Where did you learn about fire alarms?
STU: I don't know that I can trace that back.
It seems so blatantly obvious. I can't point to where I learned about it.
But it was certainly when I was very young.
GLENN: Probably in school.
Because you had, what?
Fire drills.
STU: That's right.
GLENN: And do you know anybody who accidentally has pulled a fire drill.
STU: Not until this week.
GLENN: Not until this weekend. Okay.
Number one, I learned about them in school, I'm sure. I didn't see them anywhere else, I'm sure. So I learned about it in school.
Guess what Jamaal Bowman did, before he was a member of Congress?
STU: I mean, gee. What could it be?
GLENN: Well, he was the principal of a school.
STU: School. Hmm.
GLENN: So I'm sure, he didn't have any run-ins with firearms, at a school.
STU: No. And surely, he wasn't taught, that people sometimes, pull firearms to delay things. By students.
GLENN: Oh, he never gave that message. Never gave that message.
Do not pull a fire alarm. It's not a joke. Not a joke.
Now, it's an offense for a couple of reasons this time. Pulling a fire alarm is illegal if there is no fire.
STU: It's like, yelling fire in a crowded theater.
Similar to that.
GLENN: Exactly right. Exactly right. And there's another reason you don't do it in the Capitol.
And that would be because you were trying to obstruct official proceedings.
So, in other words, if January 6th, just one guy, one guy would have walked in.
And pulled the fire alarm. He would have been given the 22 years. Just because he was obstructing an official proceeding.
STU: Hmm.
GLENN: Now, if that guy happened to be -- and this is very common.
If that guy happened to say, I'm sorry. I was just trying to open the door.
I thought this would open the door. It would have been gone. I mean, they would have even questioned it.
STU: Yeah. I think they would just let them go immediately. He just made a mistake. That was a door handle that was labeled fire.
That was not -- to the side of the door.
GLENN: Sure. And it doesn't say door. It says fire.
STU: No, it says fire.
GLENN: It says fire. So the best I can do on this, is he was trying to open the door, and he thought those were fire doors.
Now, seeing that they were glass doors, seeing that they were glass doors, you -- I have to grade him down on intelligence yet again.
STU: Wait. You are trying to give him this benefit of the doubt. Saying, okay. It's a fire door.
So, therefore --
GLENN: And it would open up.
But that's the exact opposite of what a fire door would do.
STU: Right. It would be the opposite. It would be close. You would want it to be closed, the fire.
GLENN: Yes. Yes.
Why, Stu?
STU: Because you want the fire to come through.
GLENN: Well, yes.
But if it's to the outside, it would also feed a fire. Because you don't want more oxygen coming in.
STU: Right. There you go.
GLENN: So I can't make this work.
I can't make this work at all.
STU: I mean, it's impossible.
It's impossible for anybody to believe this.
And it's one of those things, that let's just take him at his word, for a second. Let's just entertain this for a second. He walked in, he saw fire. He pulled the thing. He was going door to door. He should be immediately removed from Congress.
GLENN: Why is that, Stu?
STU: But you're obviously too stupid to be in Congress.
So either --
GLENN: I agree with this.
STU: You should be out of Congress, because you're too dumb.
GLENN: I agree with this.
Look, if he is this stupid, we don't have to impeach him. We don't have to do anything. He won't find his way to work, sometime this week.
STU: Right.
GLENN: Okay?
He won't find his pants or his underpants, sometime this week. And he will just walk out in his wing tipped shoes. And his tie and his shirt. And, you know, everything swinging in the breeze. And he will be like, what are you talking about?
Oh, my pants? I didn't know I was -- how do I put my pants on?
Just -- just have to -- get that. Would that help put my pants?
Hello. I need to put my pants. Somebody with pants. Come quick!
Oh. False alarm. I don't need pants.
I don't wear pants.
STU: But you're already wearing them.