WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) -- Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) pleaded guilty Thursday to one misdemeanor for triggering a false fire alarm in the Cannon House Building.
"I really regret that this caused so much confusion and that people had to evacuate and I just caused a disturbance. I hate that, it's pretty embarrassing," Bowman said.
Bowman said he was in a rush to get back to the House Floor when he pulled the fire alarm to get through the door.
"So I was just in a rush, trying to get down — I was actually running to the Capitol at one point," Bowman said.
As punishment, Bowman will pay a $1,000 fine and spend three months on probation.
Republicans like Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.) and Rep. Marc Molinaro (R-N.Y.) call that a slap on the wrist.
"When you're four years old and you accidentally pull the fire alarm, it's called a mistake," Molinaro said. "When you're a grown adult it's called a crime."
Said Malliotakis: "I just feel that somebody who is a United States member of Congress, who was a school principal, knows very well the consequences of pulling the fire alarm, and quite frankly if this was his school he would've suspended or expelled the student."
Malliotakis wants Bowman censured or expelled from Congress, but House Democratic Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said Republicans can't come after Bowman.
"Many of them who are having a panic attack publicly about Jamaal Bowman have actually defended or refused to comment on the violent mob on January 6th," Jeffries said.
The charge against Bowman will be dismissed at the end of his probation.