Grijalva will be sworn in as the House's newest member, paving the way for an Epstein files vote

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WASHINGTON (AP) — As the House returns Wednesday for the first time in months, Democrat Adelita Grijalva will be sworn in as its newest member, more than seven weeks after winning a special election in Arizona to fill the seat last held by her late father.

Grijalva's swearing-in is expected to be among the first actions by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who had previously declined to seat her until the chamber reconvened following a deal to end the government shutdown. The official ceremony is set for 4 p.m. EST, shortly before the House is expected to begin voting.

For Grijalva, it's the end of a weekslong delay that she and other Democrats said was intended to prevent her signature on a petition to eventually trigger a vote to release files related to Jeffrey Epstein. Grijalva has said she will join the petition from Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., after taking office, giving it the 218 signatures needed.

Three Republicans have signed onto Massie's petition — Reps. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Nancy Mace of South Carolina and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.

President Donald Trump has been reaching out about Epstein to two of them, according to a person familiar with the effort who was not authorized to discuss it publicly. The president has phoned Mace, who has returned the calls, but the two have not yet spoken. Trump made a call to Boebert, which the person described as “unsuccessful.”

For now, anyone can remove his or her name from the petition. Once it reaches 218 signatures it will be too late.

Grijalva’s arrival kicks off a busy day on Capitol Hill as hundreds of House members return, their trips potentially complicated by travel delays caused by the shutdown.

Lawmakers who win special elections typically take the oath of office on days when legislative business is conducted. But with the House out of session since Sept. 19, Johnson had said he would swear her in when everyone returned. He did swear in two Republican members this year when the chamber was not in legislative session.

“I don’t think he’s thought of anything that he’s doing, in this case, as anything personal,” Grijalva told The Associated Press in an interview. “It feels personal because, literally, my name was attached. I also know that if I were a Republican, I would have been sworn in seven weeks ago.”

“We’ve been waiting for this so long that it’s still surreal,” she said.

She will start her House tenure by voting on the Senate-passed legislation to reopen the government. Grijalva and most Democrats are expected to oppose it because it does not extend Affordable Care Act tax credits that expire at the end of the year. Republicans can still pass the bill with their slim majority.

Grijalva would be the final necessary signature on a discharge petition linked to legislation that would require the Justice Department to release all unclassified documents and communications related to Epstein and his sex trafficking operation.

The Epstein Files Transparency Act, co-sponsored by Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., is supported by all Democrats and three Republicans, Reps. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Nancy Mace of South Carolina.

Grijalva can add her signature to the petition once she is sworn into office. But her move will not mean a vote right away, due to House rules.

Massachusetts Rep. Jim McGovern, the top Democrat on the House Rules Committee, said he expects voting on the Epstein bill to take place in early December.

Emails released Wednesday from Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee are likely to reignite interest in the issue. Epstein write in a 2011 email that Trump had “spent hours” at Epstein’s house with a victim of sex trafficking and said in a separate message years later that Trump “knew about the girls."

“The Democrats selectively leaked emails to the liberal media to create a fake narrative to smear President Trump,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.

Leavitt and Republicans on the committee said the person in question was Virginia Giuffre, who accused Epstein of arranging for her to have sexual encounters with a number of his rich and powerful friends. Giuffre, before she died this year, had long insisted that Trump was not among the men who had victimized her.

Rep. Raúl Grijalva, Adelita’s father, died in March after more than two decades in the House, where he built a reputation as a staunch progressive.

Adelita Grijalva has long been active in local politics. She served on the Tucson Unified School District board before joining the Pima County Board of Supervisors, where she became only the second woman to lead the board.

She won the Sept. 23 special election with ease to complete the remainder of her father’s term, representing a mostly Hispanic district in which Democrats enjoy a nearly 2-to-1 voter registration advantage over Republicans. Grijalva said the win was emotional.

“I would rather have my dad than have an office,” she said.

She told the AP that environmental justice, tribal sovereignty and public education are among her priorities, echoing the work her father championed.

“I know that the bar is set very high, and the expectation is high of what we’re going to be able to do once sworn in,” she said.

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Kinnard reported from Columbia, South Carolina.

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This story has been corrected to reflect that Adelita Grijalva was elected more than seven weeks ago, not nearly seven weeks ago.