Critics are tearing into House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) over his latest claims about Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.), whom he still hasn’t sworn in to office more than three weeks after she won a special election in Arizona.
He blamed Democrats for the delay ― and then attacked Grijalva for not doing her job, which she is largely unable to perform because he hasn’t sworn her in yet.
“I am happy and anxious to administer the oath to Rep. Grijalva, and we will do that as soon as we return to legislative session,” he told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Thursday. “We need [Senate Minority Leader] Chuck Schumer and the Democrats in the Senate to do that.”
Johnson adjourned the House last month after passing a funding bill that has since stalled in the Senate, leading to a partial shutdown of the federal government. Democrats are looking for concessions on health care, especially the extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies set to expire at the end of the year.
The speaker said he won’t bring the House back into session until Senate Democrats end their holdout ― and he won’t swear in Grijalva until the House returns to session.
The House has been holding brief “pro forma” sessions, and Johnson has used those sessions to swear in new members several times this year.
But he won’t do it for Grijalva.
Johnson also claimed he was following a precedent set by former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who once delayed swearing in a new member for more than three weeks in 2021.
Johnson didn’t mention that it was due largely to COVID-related protocols in place at the time.
Then, Johnson scolded Grijalva for not “working.”
“She should be working for her constituents,” he told Tapper. “She should be in her office. She should be working, or in the district for her constituents.”
Grijalva earlier in the day shared a video showing her new office ― but much of the equipment inside, including the computers, doesn’t work because she hasn’t been sworn in yet and therefore doesn’t have access:
Many observers say there’s another reason Johnson is stalling: Grijalva, once sworn in, would be the final signature needed on a discharge petition to force a vote to compel the Justice Department to release a trove of files related to late convicted sex predator Jeffrey Epstein.
President Donald Trump and those around him repeatedly vowed to release those files during last year’s campaign.
Now that he is in office, Trump ― who was once close friends with Epstein ― has called it a “Democrat hoax.”
Critics on social media called out Johnson: