Democrat Adelita Grijalva will be sworn in on Wednesday in the US Congress, said Republican leader Mike Johnson, accused by the opposition of delaying the swearing-in for more than a month and a half to avoid a vote on the Epstein affair.
The ceremony will take place at 16.00. (22:00 in French) at the Capitol in Washington, Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House of Representatives, said in a statement on Tuesday, hours before the expected vote to remove the current budget paralysis in the United States. Adelita Grijalva would later become the 214th Democratic member of the House elected, against 219 Republicans.
The petition is expected to be the final signature needed on a petition that, under House rules, would force a vote on legislation aimed at forcing the Trump administration to release records it holds about Jeffrey Epstein.
The Epstein affair, named after the New York financier who died in prison in 2019 before being tried for sex crimes, has sparked outrage in the United States since Donald Trump’s administration announced in early July that it had not found any new elements that would justify releasing additional documents in the case.
“Program to protect pedophiles”
Adelita Grijalva announced after her election in the partial legislative elections on September 23 that her first decision after investing was to sign this petition, which was also supported by four Republican elected officials.
Mike Johnson explained that he did not swear in Arizona’s elected representatives earlier because of budget paralysis. According to him, this prompted him to place the DPR in a parliamentary recess until the Senate unblocked the situation, which has been done since last Monday.
He further opposed the petition, saying that he would prefer to support the government’s initiative to shed light on the issue. But with 218 signatures, he could no longer refuse to hold a vote. That explains the delay, according to Democratic minority leader Hakeem Jeffries.
“The Republicans ran a pedophile protection program, they deliberately hid the Jeffrey Epstein documents,” he said at a press conference on Tuesday. Jeffrey Epstein’s death, according to authorities, has sparked countless conspiracy theories, which suggest that he was murdered to prevent him from implicating high-profile figures.
After promising his supporters during his presidential campaign to reveal shocking revelations, Donald Trump is now trying to put an end to the controversy, which he has repeatedly described as a “lie” created by the opposition Democratic Party.
