Johnson Says He’s Following ‘Pelosi Precedent’ In Not Swearing In New Dem

House Speaker Mike Johnson is pushing back hard against Democratic accusations that he’s delaying the swearing-in of a new House Democrat out of spite — saying he’s simply following the same precedent set by former Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

During an interview with Fox Business host Cheryl Casone, Johnson dismantled claims from Democrats and liberal media outlets that his decision to wait before administering the oath to Adelita Grijalva, the Arizona Democrat elected to fill her late father’s seat, had anything to do with the ongoing release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.

“Of course. We’re going to give her the oath as soon as we return to legislative session. That is the rules of the House. I am following the Pelosi precedent,” Johnson explained. “She did this over and over.”

Johnson went on to cite multiple examples of Pelosi delaying swearing-in ceremonies for special election winners — including Rep. Julia Letlow (R-La.), who was sworn in 25 days after her 2021 special election victory following her husband’s tragic death from COVID, and Democrats Pat Ryan and Joe Sempolinski, who waited 21 days to take their oaths during Pelosi’s tenure.

“She waited, logically, till the next legislative days to do that,” Johnson continued. “I am doing the exact same thing. This has zero to do with Epstein.”

The Speaker emphasized that Democrats’ attempts to link his actions to the Epstein document release were a deliberate distraction tactic.

“The Epstein files are being released. There’s 43,000 pages now out there — you have the flight logs, the financial ledgers, the phone logs, and the daily calendar of Epstein now that are out there, names are being released — all that is happening. So that’s a red herring,” Johnson clarified.

“The Democrats are so good at distraction, they’re trying to make people lose sight of the simple fact here that the Republicans have voted over and over and over to open the government, and they have voted to close it. That is the plain and simple truth,” he added.

Johnson’s comments came as the government shutdown entered its fourth week, with Democrats again blocking Republican efforts to restore funding. Over the weekend, the Speaker reiterated that the House could reconvene within 48 hours if Democrats would stop “playing games” and agree to pass the clean GOP House-passed continuing resolution — a short-term bill designed to keep the government open while longer-term negotiations continue.

Meanwhile, Senate Democrats on Monday voted for the 11th time to block a Republican stopgap funding proposal that would fund the government through November 21. The bill passed the House with bipartisan support and was approved in the Senate by a 50–43 vote, with Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) breaking ranks to side with Republicans. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) abstained.

Casone pressed Johnson on the real-world consequences of the standoff, asking what message he had for unpaid federal employees and families dependent on government programs.

“It is so frustrating to us, Cheryl, because the contrast is so clear,” Johnson said. “Remember, it was over a month ago that the House did our job — we passed a clean continuing resolution, totally nonpartisan, 24-page, very simple piece of legislation to just keep the lights on so the Congress could continue to do the work of appropriating the funds for the annual budget.”

The Speaker accused Senate Democrats of playing politics with people’s livelihoods in order to deny President Trump and congressional Republicans a policy win.

“The House Republicans have acted responsibly. The Democrats are the ones choosing to prolong the pain for political leverage. It’s time they put the American people ahead of partisan games,” Johnson concluded.