Arizona’s newest congresswoman, Adelita Grijalva, will finally be sworn into office Wednesday afternoon—ending a seven-week standoff that left her elected but sidelined, and clearing the way for a politically charged vote on the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.

Grijalva Will Finally Take The Oath

House Speaker Mike Johnson’s office announced that Grijalva will take the oath on the House floor at 4 p.m. EST, just ahead of a vote to reopen the federal government. The ceremony will formally seat the Democrat from Tucson, who won a late-September special election to replace her father, longtime Representative Raúl Grijalva, who died in March. Her delayed swearing-in has been one of the most unusual procedural standoffs in recent congressional memory. For nearly two months, Johnson blocked Grijalva from taking her seat—despite there being no House rule preventing him from doing so—sparking accusations that he was using her absence to stall a vote on Epstein-related legislation that has bipartisan support.

She Could Force The Release Of The Epstein Files

Grijalva has pledged to become the 218th and final signature on a discharge petition that would force a House vote to compel the Justice Department to release additional Epstein files, including documents still sealed from public view. The measure, introduced by Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), has drawn backing from both sides of the aisle—Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, and Nancy Mace among them—but has remained one signature short for weeks.

A New Collection Of Epstein Emails Dropped On Wednesday

On Wednesday morning, House oversight Democrats released a new tranche of emails they say bolster the case for transparency. The messages, reportedly from Epstein’s correspondence, include a 2011 note to Ghislaine Maxwell in which Epstein allegedly wrote that Donald Trump “spent hours at my house” with a trafficking victim, and referred to Trump as a “dog that hasn’t barked.” Another 2019 email to journalist Michael Wolff reads: “Of course [Trump] knew about the girls, as he asked Ghislaine to stop.” Epstein’s 2019 death in federal custody—ruled a suicide—has done little to quell public demand for answers about his vast network of powerful associates.

Is Mike Johnson Trying To Stop The Epstein Vote?

Critics, including Arizona senator Ruben Gallego, accused Johnson of keeping Grijalva from being seated precisely to avoid that vote. “He’s covering up for pedophiles,” Gallego said bluntly. Arizona’s attorney general, Kris Mayes, even filed a lawsuit seeking to compel Johnson to seat Grijalva, calling his inaction unconstitutional. Johnson has denied any political motive, claiming he simply followed precedent and couldn’t administer an oath while the chamber was technically inactive during the shutdown. But Democrats noted that he had previously sworn in two Republicans under the same circumstances. Speaking to CNN on Tuesday, Grijalva called Johnson’s blockade “undemocratic, unconstitutional, and illegal… This kind of obstruction cannot happen again,” she said. “Arizonans voted. I’m here to serve. No one—least of all the Speaker—gets to decide when democracy takes a recess.”