Arizona AG threatens “legal action” against Mike Johnson if he doesn’t swear in new Democrat

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes on Tuesday threatened legal action against House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., if he continues to avoid swearing in Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva, D-Ariz.

Though Grijalva won a special election in late September, taking over the seat previously held by her late father, Raul Grijalva, she has not been sworn in yet. An aide for Johnson previously said that the government shutdown was preventing Johnson from swearing her in, while Johnson said he is ready to swear her in “as soon as she wants.”

On Tuesday, Mayes released a statement accusing Johnson of playing “political games” and willful “delay” in swearing in Grijalva.

“Today, my office is sending a letter to Speaker Johnson demanding he do so,” the statement read. “We are keeping every option open to us, including litigation, to hold him accountable and make sure that Adelita is able to begin her work as Arizona’s newest member of Congress.”

In a separate letter to Johnson, Mayes demanded that Grijalva be sworn in “without further delay,” and threatened “prompt legal action” if Johnson refuses.

“The effect of your failure to follow usual practice is that Arizona is down a representative from the number to which it is constitutionally entitled,” the letter read in part. “And the more than 813,000 residents of Arizona’s Seventh Congressional District currently have no representation in Congress…You and your staff have provided ever-shifting, unsatisfactory, and sometimes absurd stories as to why Ms. Grijalva has not been sworn in.”

Though Johnson has said he is waiting for the House to be back in session to swear in Grijalva, her not being present prevents a contentious house vote on releasing the Jeffrey Epstein case files, in which Grijalva’s vote would be the necessary 218th vote in a procedural attempt to put forward a petition to release the files.

Johnson told reporters last week that the refusal to swear Grijalva in was not related to the Epstein vote “at all.”

“It has nothing to do with it,” Johnson said.