WASHINGTON – Democrats say the saga of Adelita Grijalva, a Democrat who won a special election for her dad’s congressional seat in Arizona, is evidence that House Speaker Mike Johnson is determined to keep the so-called “Epstein files” under lock and key.
Grijalva has been waiting nearly two weeks to be sworn in as the newest member of the U.S. House. She has promised to be the 218th vote – or the majority vote – that would move a discharge petition to forward, requiring Johnson to allow a vote on legislation mandating the release of information about disgraced financier Jeffery Epstein.
But Johnson adjourned the House after it passed a stop-gap spending bill and does not want to reconvene the chamber to place pressure on Senate Democrats to pass his bill.
So, Johnson said Grijalva cannot be sworn in, even as two Republicans, Florida GOP Reps. Jimmy Patronis and Randy Fine were sworn in during a pro forma session earlier this year that did not require the entire House to be present.
Johnson said he made that decision because the families of Patronis and Fine had traveled to Washington, D.C., for the event. He did not respond when asked if he would use a pro forma session to swear in Grijalva if her family traveled to D.C.
Grijalva’s case caught fire among Democrats on Wednesday.
“It’s shameful that @SpeakerJohnson and House Republicans refuse to release the Epstein files,” Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin, formerly Minnesota’s DFL Party chief, posted on X. “Swear in Adelita Grijalva and get this done for the survivors and American people.”
Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Angie Craig, D-2nd District, said on X that Johnson “is refusing to swear in Rep-elected Grijalva during a pro forma session – but he swore in two Republican members in April using that exact procedure.”
“Conveniently she is the last signature needed to release the Epstein files … This is not normal,” Craig said. “What do Republicans have to hide?”
The post Democrats turning government shuttering into ‘Epstein shutdown’ appeared first on MinnPost.
