Mike Johnson, the US House speaker, is expected to swear in Democratic representative-elect Adelita Grijalva on Wednesday afternoon, ending a seven-week standoff that prevented the incoming Arizona legislator from taking her congressional seat and clearing the path for a vote to release the Jeffrey Epstein files.
Johnson’s office announced Grijalva will take the oath of office at approximately 4pm EST on the House floor, ahead of a vote to reopen the federal government. The ceremony comes 49 days after Grijalva won a late September special election to succeed her father, longtime congressman Raúl Grijalva, who died in March.
Grijalva’s arrival does more than narrow the already razor-thin Republican majority. She has vowed to become the 218th and final signature on a discharge petition that would automatically trigger a House floor vote on legislation demanding the Justice Department release additional files on deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Already on Wednesday morning, House oversight Democrats released “never-before-seen” Epstein emails that mention Trump, including a 2011 message to Ghislaine Maxwell in which Epstein wrote that Trump “spent hours at my house” with a sex trafficking victim, calling Trump a “dog that hasn’t barked”.
A 2019 email to author Michael Wolff states that “of course [Trump] knew about the girls as he asked ghislaine to stop.”
But lawmakers say many additional files remain sealed, that for now leave unanswered questions about Epstein’s network and associates that a discharge petition could force the House to address.
The petition, introduced by Kentucky congressman Thomas Massie and California congressman Ro Khanna in early September, needs just one more signature to force a vote under House rules. Support has come overwhelmingly from Democrats, though Republican representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert and Nancy Mace have also signed on.
Democrats accused Johnson of blocking Grijalva’s swearing-in specifically to prevent the Epstein vote. Senator Ruben Gallego of Arizona said that Johnson was “covering up for pedophiles.”
If the Epstein files legislation clears the House, it would still need Senate approval. But the vote itself would force lawmakers into an uncomfortable choice between voters demanding transparency about Epstein’s powerful associates and an actively discouraging Donald Trump administration who has pushed to avoid a deeper investigation.
Epstein, a financier with connections to numerous high-profile figures, including Trump, died in federal custody in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide.
While previous document releases have detailed some of his associations, lawmakers have argued that a significant tranche of information remains sealed in justice department files.
Johnson kept the House out of session following Grijalva’s victory as part of a strategy to pressure Senate Democrats to vote to reopen the government during the shutdown. The Republican speaker claimed he could not administer the oath while the chamber remained inactive, though Grijalva won a week before the shutdown began and no such House rule exists prohibiting the swearing in of newly elected members during recesses.
Democrats also widely rejected Johnson’s explanation, noting in a 180-signature letter that he had sworn in two Florida Republicans earlier this year while the House was out. Arizona’s Democratic attorney general, Kris Mayes, filed a lawsuit last month seeking to force Johnson to seat Grijalva.
Johnson defended his actions by claiming he followed precedent set by former speaker Nancy Pelosi, who he said delayed similar ceremonies for Republicans. He insists his decision had nothing to do with avoiding an explosive vote on Epstein-related documents, though that ignores an intense pressure campaign from Trump allies attempting to spare the president from attention due to his longtime social ties with Epstein.
Speaking to CNN on Tuesday, Grijalva said she plans to directly confront Johnson about the delay, calling the avoidance “undemocratic”, “unconstitutional” and “illegal”.
“This kind of obstruction cannot happen again,” she said.
