Democratic U.S. Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva attends a press event highlighting her delayed swearing in at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., U.S., October 15, 2025. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz
Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ) questioned what the Justice Department might be doing with the Jeffrey Epstein files while Speaker Mike Johnson refuses to swear her into the post.
Johnson told Fox News that Grijalva has keys to her office and can be doing her job and taking calls, prefacing it with the southern phrase, "bless her heart," and saying "she doesn't know how it works" in Congress.
Grijalva's father was the previous holder of the seat.
MSNBC host Alex Witt asked Grijalva, "You know what you're doing, right? ... The bless your heart part. I mean, it could be taken seriously or kind of condescendingly. What do you say?"
"No, it's totally condescending, patronizing, misogynistic, and really telling of where he is. I mean, I think that people can see what's happening here, and his push to obstruct me getting sworn in and why he's doing that is because I will be the 218th signer to the Epstein files," said Grijalva.
There is a discharge petition, a measure that requires 218 signatures to mandate that the Justice Department release all investigatory documents from the probe and indictment of child sex offenderJeffrey Epstein, accused of trafficking minors and more.
"And this is a delay tactic," said Grijalva. "Ibelieve he's trying to get oneof the other four Republicanswho signed on to the petitionto remove their name. So, myswearing in is not that big ofan issue."
She went on to ask what the Justice Department was doing with the Epstein files while they were waiting.
"I do feel like they're going to do everything they possibly can to have things permanently redacted. The longer these files are, sort of, sitting, you wonder who has access to them, how much of any of that is going to be complete when the American people finally see it," she noted.
Witt then asked whether Grijalva had "thought about personally talking to the Speaker."
Grijalva wanted to know how the other newly sworn-in lawmakers reached Johnson to schedule their swearing-in.
"I have called, we sent a letter, and now our attorney general sent a demand letter two days ago, basically saying, 'Swear her in'. You are depriving 812,000 Arizonans of their voice in Congress," she explained.
When Witt played the clip of Johnson saying she could be working, Grijalva invited him to her office to explain why there's no access to email or phones.
"Speaker Johnson, why don't you come over and check it out? I got keys. We have no phones, no computers. We brought in a printer because we don't have government email in order to connect to any of the services here. How am I supposed to take constituent calls and information when I don't have a government email? We don't have the capacity to tap into resources. I mean, does he know his job? Because we can't do that without being sworn in," she schooled.