Who is Adelita Grijalva, and what does she have to do with the Epstein files?

The U.S. House of Representatives was set to meet Friday for a pro forma legislative session amid the three-week government shutdown, and Democrats say there’s a pressing piece of business — to swear in Adelita Grijalva.

Grijalva, from Arizona, won a special election more than three weeks ago, but has yet to take the oath of office.

Democrats say House Speaker Mike Johnson is unusually delaying her entry because she could cast a crucial vote related to bipartisan demands for more transparency about investigations into Jeffrey Epstein, the late child sex offender who associated with Donald Trump for several years.

Who is Adelita Grijalva?

A lifelong Arizona native, she’s worked as a program director for a juvenile court in Pima Country and served in elected positions on local school and political boards. Grijalva, 54, is married with three children.

Grijalva made the leap to federal politics to run for Arizona’s 7th Congressional District, which had been left vacant after this year’s cancer-related death of her father, Raul, who had served in Congress for more than 20 years.

She won the special election held on Sept. 23 in the district, gaining 69 per cent of the vote over her Republican opponent.

Why hasn’t she been sworn in?

There’s been a partial government shutdown since Oct. 1. Speaker Johnson has yet to schedule any floor votes since then, though the House has occasionally met in pro forma sessions, which are generally short affairs lasting just a few minutes during which no votes are taken.

Some Democrats accuse the speaker from Louisiana of changing his tune, after saying earlier this month, “we’ll schedule it, I guess, as soon as she wants.”

“I am delighted to administer the oath to her, as soon as we get back to legislative session,” Johnson told CNBC on Thursday, blaming Democrat Sen. Chuck Schumer for the government shutdown.

A day earlier, Johnson was rapped by a number of Democrats and liberal news talk show hosts for remarks about Grijalva that were characterized as condescending.

“Bless her heart,” Johnson told Fox News. “She’s a representative-elect. She doesn’t know how things work around here.”

The reaction

In a letter released the day before, Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic House minority leader, demanded Johnson swear Grijalva in on Friday.

“The continued refusal to seat Representative-elect Adelita Grijalva for partisan advantage undermines the integrity of the institution.”

Jeffries said the situation is in glaring contrast with when two Florida Republicans recently won special elections.

“In April, Republican Representatives Jimmy Patronis and Randy Fine were sworn in during a pro forma session less than 24 hours after their election,” Jeffries wrote. “The decision to seat right-wing Republicans with record speed, while denying a newly elected Democrat the opportunity to serve, is an unacceptable disgrace.”

Johnson said last week that the circumstances were different for Patronis and Fine, because they had arranged for family and friends to be in Washington, D.C., but then the House had unexpectedly gone out of session for that day.

“As a courtesy to them and their families, we went ahead and administered the oath to an empty chamber. It was no fun. They didn’t get the same pomp and circumstance everybody else gets,” Johnson told C-SPAN.

A number of Democrats descended upon Johnson’s office earlier this week and chanted, “Swear her in!”

As well, several stood alongside Grijalva on the steps of Capitol Hill as she pleaded her case.

“Every reason he’s ever come up with has changed … the only thing that’s been consistent the whole time is Speaker Johnson is covering up for pedophiles,” Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego.

A few Republicans have also disagreed with Johnson’s tactic.

“She won her election. She’s a duly elected member of Congress. She should be sworn in,” California Rep. Kevin Kiley told reporters on Tuesday.

In a letter this week, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes threatened Johnson with legal action for not seating Grijalva. About 813,000 Arizonans are being denied representation as a result of the delay, Mayes said.

“You and your staff have provided ever-shifting, unsatisfactory, and sometimes absurd stories as to why Ms. Grijalva has not been sworn in,” Mayes, a Democrat, wrote.

Like Jeffries, Mayes evoked the examples of the Florida representatives, but also Vince Fong in California, James Walkinshaw in Virginia and Celeste Maloy in Utah, who were sworn in soon after their special election wins.

Johnson called the Mayes letter a “publicity stunt.”

Jeffries on Friday also said to expect “swift” legal action if his Friday request is unheeded.

The Epstein factor

Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky has been gathering signatures on a petition to trigger a vote on legislation that would force the release of federal files on Epstein, angering Trump and the leadership of his own party in the process.

Grijalva has said she’ll sign the discharge petition once she takes office, likely providing Massie the 218 signatures needed to trigger a vote.

Democrats say Johnson is stalling because he wants to push off any vote related to Epstein, as the saga has dogged the Trump administration for several months.

“That is the only thing that I can point to that differentiates me from the other people that were just sworn in recently from their specials,” Grijalva said Wednesday in an interview on MSNBC.

Epstein’s death in prison in August 2019 was officially ruled a suicide, though its circumstances and the financier’s associations with high-profile men like Trump, former president Bill Clinton and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates have spawned myriad conspiracy theories and animated MAGA-aligned podcast hosts.

WATCH | FBI director defends handling of Epstein information:

FBI Director Kash Patel grilled over handling of Epstein files

FBI Director Kash Patel told a U.S. Senate panel on Tuesday there was no credible information that Jeffrey Epstein trafficked women and underage girls to anyone but himself. House lawmakers pressed Patel on the handling of the Epstein files following the Justice Department’s July decision not to release additional material.

Epstein was given a plea deal in 2008 in Florida that allowed him to plead guilty to soliciting prostitution but face no federal charges. He was indicted on federal charges of child trafficking in New York a little more than a month before his death.

While still a private citizen appearing on a podcast, Kash Patel accused federal officials of a coverup in the Epstein case “because of who’s on that list.” Since becoming FBI director, Patel has backed off such explosive claims while defending the agency’s handling of the case.

Meanwhile, Attorney General Pam Bondi in February seemed to hint at revelations that would ensue from the administration concerning the case, which have not materialized.

Democrats believe the administration is stonewalling due to potential uncomfortable questions for Trump, who has offered shifting explanations on why his yearslong friendship with Epstein ended.

Johnson, who is among a number of Republicans who have doubted the authenticity of a decades-old birthday note Trump purportedly sent Epstein, has denied the delay in swearing in Adelita Grijalva has anything to do with the discharge petition.

Three other Republicans aside from Rep. Massie have agreed to sign the discharge petition, including Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who told NewsNation last week she received significant pressure from the administration to not join in the effort.

The motivation for Republicans in voting to release the Epstein files may be to tar any high-profile men who are seen as liberals, and by extension, the Democratic Party. A Trump-supporting part of the Republican base has been consumed over the past decade by conspiracy theories such as QAnon and Pizzagate, which allege that Democratic figures are involved in child trafficking.