Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes is threatening to take House Speaker Mike Johnson to court after he refused to swear in Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva, saying his delay is leaving Arizonans without a voice in Congress.
During an interview on CNN’s Laura Coates Live, Mayes accused Johnson of “holding the state hostage” to keep government files related to Jeffrey Epstein from being released.
“I really think that we are going to have no other choice, Laura, except to take Speaker Johnson to court if he refuses to respond to us, if he doesn’t quickly swear in Adelita Grijalva, again depriving her of the ability to help her constituents,” Mayes said.
“We’ve had some flooding out here in Arizona. She has no way to help those people in southern Arizona who have been impacted by that flooding. So many other things that she can and should be doing as an elected member of Congress, and so if I have to, I’ll take him to court. You know, again, there’s no legitimate reason for him to refuse to swear her in right now”.
“No other reason that I can think of except that perhaps she’s the final vote to discharge the Epstein files, and it’s not fair for Mike Johnson to be holding the state of Arizona hostage because he doesn’t wanna release the Epstein files.”
Host Laura Coates replied, “He, of course, says that is not the motivation. Obviously, you don’t buy that.” Mayes didn’t hold back. She said the delay is not only frustrating but also harmful to Arizona residents who need help from their representative.
Grijalva, who won a special election almost a month ago to fill the seat left vacant after her father, Rep. Raul Grijalva, passed away, is still waiting to take her oath. While she finally received the keys to her congressional office on Tuesday, she reportedly found no working phones, internet, or computers — making it impossible to serve her district effectively.
In a sharply worded letter sent to Johnson that same day, Mayes demanded that Grijalva be allowed to “assume her seat without further delay” or face legal action.
“You and your staff have provided ever-shifting, unsatisfactory, and sometimes absurd stories as to why Ms. Grijalva has not been sworn in,” Mayes wrote. “We thus demand that Ms. Grijalva be immediately sworn into office and admitted to her rightful seat.
We ask that, within two days of the date of this letter, you provide this Office with your assurance of when and where that will take place, which must be immediate and prior to the date the House comes back into regular session. Should you fail to provide such assurance, we will be forced to seek judicial relief to protect Arizona and the residents of its Seventh Congressional District.”
The standoff between Mayes and Johnson is now setting up a potential legal showdown that could draw national attention. While Johnson insists politics isn’t behind the delay, Mayes and many in Arizona aren’t buying it — especially as their newly elected representative waits, powerless, to begin the job voters chose her to do.