Mike Johnson faced an ugly public grilling by Democratic senators over why he is refusing to swear in a new member of the House—ending with him being accused of protecting pedophiles.
The Republican speaker was questioned outside his office in the Capitol for seven minutes Wednesday afternoon by Arizona’s two senators over why he is refusing to swear in Adelita Grijalva.
Grijalva has promised she would immediately add her name to a vote to force the release of the Epstein files—and because all Democrats and a tiny number of Republicans have signed on to the measure, her vote would be the final one needed.
But Johnson—and Donald Trump—oppose the release leading to widespread claims the Speaker is avoiding swearing in Grijalva to prevent a vote happening.
During the exchange he offered a baffling new reason for why he won’t swear Grijalva in during the government shutdown: her family isn’t in town.
Democrat Senators Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego confronted Johnson in front of cameras outside of his office Wednesday afternoon. The senators demanded to know why Johnson hadn’t moved to swear in Grijalva.
Last Thursday, the speaker of the House promised he would swear in Grijalva this week. However, he then sent Congress home for a “district work period” the following day, signaling he has no intention of following through on that promise.
Since then, he has used Grijalva’s swearing in as a political chess piece, saying he’ll do it once “Democrats” vote to pass the government funding bill, which would end the government shutdown. Senate Democrats have refused to pass the bill until Republicans extend Obamacare subsidies.
Johnson is under no obligation to delay swearing in Grijalva because Congress isn’t in session. Kelly reminded Johnson, as Democrats did on Thursday, that he swore in Republican Reps. Republican Jimmy Patronis and Randy Fine in pro forma sessions earlier this year when Congress wasn’t in town.
Johnson said he administered the oath of office to those congressmen in that instance because it was scheduled in advance and “their families were here.”
“Rep.-elect Grijalva has not yet had a scheduled day [to be sworn in] because was elected after the House was out of session.”
On Monday, Johnson said he’ll schedule swearing in Grijalva “as soon as she wants.” This prompted Grijalva to post “Swear me in NOW @SpeakerJohnson.”
Johnson has since switched to the “family” excuse for the delay. He made a similar point on NewsNation Tuesday night.
Grijalva, a Democrat from Arizona, will be the final signature needed on a petition to force Congress to vote on the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
Gallego pushed Johnson on this point. “This is the longest time the House has been out of session,” said Gallego. “This is the longest time it’s taken for someone to be sworn in, and it all happens to coincide with the fact that she’s gonna be the deciding vote on the discharge petition?”
Johnson, who had already described the Epstein angle to the story as a “red herring,” dodged this question by blaming Democrats for the government shutdown.
“I know why you’re upset. You guys are getting a lot of heat because the government is closed down and you guys made the decision,” he said, causing Gallego and Kelly to erupt in frustration.
Eventually Gallego demanded of Johnson, “Bring your people in, and stop covering up for the pedophiles.”
“That’s ridiculous,” claimed Johnson before dismissing their argument as a publicity stunt and leaving the conversation.
