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

House Speaker Mike Johnson struggled to justify his failure to swear in a new Democratic House member when pressed on the subject in a Sunday ABC News interview.

Johnson argued repeatedly that he’d seat Representative-elect Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.) when the House was back in legislative session, even though he’s previously sworn in Republican members when the lower chamber was out of session.

“You could swear her in tomorrow, right?” Karl asked pointedly.

“No, not tomorrow, no, we couldn’t, we wouldn’t,” Johnson said. “There was an exception for two Floridians earlier in this Congress. But the reason was they were duly elected. They had a date set. They flew in all their friends and family and the House went out of session unexpectedly.”

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

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

Johnson has been under growing pressure to swear in Grijalva, who was elected to her Arizona district on September 23 and has yet to be seated in Congress. Democrats have stressed that Johnson’s actions are now depriving Grijalva’s constituents of representation in Congress and alleged that his hesitation is due to her support for a measure related to releasing the Jeffrey Epstein files.

Grijalva has also emphasized that she’s eager to be sworn in herself and was among dozens of Democrats who marched to Johnson’s office last Tuesday and demanded that he take action.

“Let’s just be really clear, if I were a Republican, I would have already been sworn [in], and that is not acceptable. They’re afraid of me signing and being the 218th signer to the Epstein petition,” Grijalva said at the time.

Johnson has the ability to reopen the House, or he could choose to swear in Grijalva during a “pro forma” session, which is a procedural session that’s still being held during the shutdown.