Speaker Johnson said he’d swear in new House Democrat ‘as soon as she wants.’ Now Republicans are backtracking

By Morgan Rimmer, Manu Raju, Sarah Ferris, CNN

(CNN) — Speaker Mike Johnson is not planning to allow Democrats’ newest congresswoman-elect to be sworn-in until her party agrees to end the government shutdown, despite telling CNN earlier Tuesday that he would swear her in “as soon as she wants.”

“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 said Tuesday.

The move amounts to an extraordinary power play to deny a sitting member a seat.

While the leadership aide contended “it’s a customary practice in the House to swear in members when the chamber is in legislative session,” Johnson swore in Florida GOP Reps. Jimmy Patronis and Randy Fine during a pro forma session earlier this year.

As the government shutdown has dragged on without the Senate able to reach a deal to fund the government, the House has been holding brief “pro forma” sessions where the chamber is quickly gaveled out and is not engaged in legislative business.

Johnson, asked earlier Tuesday why he had not sworn in Grijalva during a pro forma session when she was elected in September and whether it was connected to a push to vote on the release of the Jeffrey Epstein case files, said: “No, it has nothing to do with that at all. We will swear her in when everybody gets back. It’s a ceremonial duty.”

“Look, we’ll schedule it, I guess, as soon as she wants. It has nothing to do with it. I, we’re in pro forma session because there is nothing for the House to do. The House has done its job,” the speaker said when pressed by CNN on why he was waiting for the full House to return.

Grijalva is expected to provide the final signature needed on a petition to force a full House vote on releasing further materials in the Epstein case, but Johnson has insisted the delay in her swearing-in is not related to that issue.

Johnson did not explain why he has chosen to delay her swearing in, even though he has handled other members differently.

“Speaker Johnson needs to stop dragging his feet and follow the same precedent he set in swearing in his Republican colleagues earlier this year. If he would simply give me a date and time, I will be there,” Grijalva said in a statement to CNN.

The incoming congresswoman, who won a special election two weeks ago, has been calling on Johnson to provide a date for her swearing in, arguing in a letter to the speaker on Monday that the delay “is robbing the people of Southern Arizona of essential constituent services.”

Rep. Jim McGovern, the top Democrat on the House Rules Committee, told reporters at the Capitol on Monday, that it is “outrageous” that Grijalva had not yet been sworn in.

“This is outrageous. You got the White House undermining our democracy. Now you got the speaker of the House doing the same thing. I mean, this is all about a continuation of the Epstein cover up,” he said.

This story has been updated with additional details.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2025 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

CNN’s Ellis Kim contributed to this report.