Top Democrat bashes Republican refusal to swear in Grijalva: ‘Epstein cover up’

A leading House Democrat hammered Republicans on Monday for refusing to swear in a newly elected Democrat in Arizona, saying GOP leaders are terrified of staging a vote on Jeffrey Epstein. 

“The bulls‑‑‑ continues,” Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) told reporters in the Capitol. 

McGovern, the senior Democrat on the House Rules Committee, went to the chamber floor Monday afternoon during a routine pro forma session in an effort to extract a Republican commitment to seat Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.), who won a special election in Arizona last month but has yet to be sworn in.

Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), the chair of the Rules Committee, happened to be presiding over the House chamber during the brief pro forma session, which are customary procedures allowing one chamber to pause floor activities for days at a time without the consent of the other.

Ignoring McGovern’s entreaties from the floor, Foxx quickly gaveled the session closed without allowing him to formalize his request. 

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has used pro forma sessions this year to swear in newly elected Republican lawmakers, but is refusing to do so in the case of Grijalva. He has said he'll swear in Grijalva when the House returns to regular session.

That’s prompted accusations that Johnson is seeking to avoid a vote on Epstein, since Grijalva is vowing to be the decisive 218th signature on a discharge petition forcing a House vote on legislation requiring the Trump administration to release all the government files on the child sex offender.

“This is outrageous,” McGovern said. “I mean, you get the White House undermining our democracy, and now you get the Speaker of the House doing the same thing."

“This is all about a continuation of the Epstein cover up.”

Fueling those charges, Johnson has canceled all House votes since Grijalva won her election, both before and after the government shut down Oct. 1. Once she signs the Epstein petition, it would start a process that would bring the underlying bill to the floor within nine legislative days. 

Johnson has said the House would return to session once the Senate approves a House-passed stopgap government funding bill to reopen the government.

“They're not bringing us back primarily because they're afraid of the discharge petition, you know, and getting the clock started to move a vote on the Epstein files,” McGovern said. 

Johnson has refused to consider legislation forcing the Trump administration to release the Epstein files. He says the more effective method of deciphering the many mysteries surrounding the enigmatic millionaire is through the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which is investigating the case.

Those supporting the legislative approach disagree, saying the Oversight panel isn’t getting any information that Trump’s Justice Department wants to keep under wraps. They say Trump, who had associated with Epstein decades ago, is protecting his friends and wealthy Republican donors.

Grijalva, meanwhile, says the delay in her swearing in appears to be connected to the Epstein vote. 

“I am a woman of color, a Chicana, from Tucson. But none of those factors, I don’t think, are reasons why I wouldn’t be being sworn in, other than pointing to the Epstein files and the complete lack of transparency from this administration in releasing those files,” she told CNN on Monday. “The other is Speaker Johnson has closed down votes in the recent past to avoid a vote on the Epstein files. So, there does seem to be a connection.”

Emily Brooks contributed.