Speaker Mike Johnson speaks to the press. REUTERS/Annabelle Gordon
A House leadership aide undercut Speaker Mike Johnson's claims that he plans to swear in a new Congressional lawmaker as soon as possible.
Earlier on Tuesday, Johnson told CNN that he would move to seat Rep.-Elect Adelita Grijalva, who recently won a House race in Arizona. Grijalva is expected to be the 218th lawmaker to support a bipartisan bill authored by Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA) to force the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
A House leadership aide undercut those claims later in the day, CNN reported.
“We will swear in Rep.-Elect Adelita Grijalva as soon as the House returns to session when Chuck Schumer, Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego decide to open up the government,” a leadership aide told the outlet.
The move to challenge Grijalva's seat in Congress over whether certain Democrats vote to reopen the government represents "an extraordinary power play to deny a sitting member a seat," CNN reported.
The aide added that “it’s a customary practice in the House to swear in members when the chamber is in legislative session."
However, Johnson sat two Republican members of Congress during a pro forma session earlier this year, CNN reported.
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