Mike Johnson Squirms When Pressed On Failure To Swear In House Democrat Adelita Grijalva

Home Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) struggled to justify his failure to swear in a brand new Democratic Home member when pressed on the topic in a Sunday ABC Information interview.

Johnson argued repeatedly that he’d seat Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.) when the Home was again in legislative session, although he’s beforehand sworn in Republican members when the decrease chamber was out of session.

“You could possibly swear her in tomorrow, proper?” Karl requested pointedly.

“No, not tomorrow, no, we couldn’t, we wouldn’t,” Johnson stated. “There was an exception for 2 Floridians earlier on this Congress. However the purpose was they have been duly elected. They’d a date set. They flew in all their family and friends and the Home went out of session unexpectedly.”

“So if she flies in family and friends —,” Karl countered.

“We don’t have a date set. She was elected after we have been out of session,” Johnson stated.

Johnson has been underneath rising strain to swear in Grijalva, who was elected to her Arizona district on Sept. 23 and has but to be seated in Congress. Democrats have careworn that Johnson’s actions are actually depriving Grijalva’s constituents of illustration in Congress and alleged that his hesitation is because of her help for a measure associated to releasing the Jeffrey Epstein recordsdata.

Grijalva has additionally emphasised that she’s wanting to be sworn in herself and was amongst dozens of Democrats who marched to Johnson’s workplace final Tuesday and demanded that he take motion.

“Let’s simply be actually clear, if I have been a Republican, I might have already been sworn [in], and that’s not acceptable. They’re afraid of me signing and being the 218th signer to the Epstein petition,” Grijalva stated on the time.

Johnson has the power to reopen the Home, or he may select to swear in Grijalva throughout a “professional forma” session, which is a procedural session that’s nonetheless being held in the course of the shutdown.