Republican leaders are moving to stall the release of the Epstein documents by delaying the swearing-in of Representative-elect Adelita Grijalva.
On Tuesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson and other GOP figures blocked attempts to administer the oath of office to Grijalva, who won last week’s special election in Arizona. She is the daughter of longtime Representative Raul Grijalva and has now become the first Latina elected to Congress from Arizona. Her arrival is significant not only historically but also politically—her signature is the final one needed on a petition demanding a vote to make the Epstein files public. For now, Republicans are holding off.
Rather than allow her to join immediately, Johnson and party leaders say she must wait until Congress officially reconvenes on October 3. That choice stands in sharp contrast to how the GOP handled its own earlier this year, when two Republicans from Florida were sworn in right after their victories during a pro forma session in April.
This delay comes at a time when Republicans had already canceled scheduled workdays on Monday and Tuesday. That move was designed to pressure Democrats into supporting another stopgap funding plan aligned with Donald Trump’s priorities.
“There’s no reason why I couldn’t have been sworn in, and it’s very problematic, because we’re facing a government shutdown. We’re going to have constituents who have questions, and there is nobody there to answer questions,” Grijalva told The Hill.
She also noted that Speaker Johnson offered no clarity on when the oath would take place, remarking, “Your guess is as good as mine.”
The House is currently consumed with efforts to avoid a shutdown expected to begin Tuesday night. Still, history shows that swearing in members under such conditions isn’t unusual—back in 2019, the entire chamber took the oath of office during a shutdown under Trump’s presidency.
Grijalva has already pledged to support the bipartisan effort pushing for the Epstein files’ release. At present, only four Republicans have signed onto the petition: Representatives Thomas Massie, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Nancy Mace, and Lauren Boebert. Together, they have demanded greater transparency from the Trump administration about Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted pedophile sex trafficker, and any potential associates who could be tied to him.
