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  • 3 months ago
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00:00Now to a heated showdown in the Capitol hallways, and this one got personal.
00:06House Speaker Mike Johnson going toe-to-toe with two Democratic senators from Arizona
00:11over the government shutdown and sharp accusations involving the Epstein files.
00:16Tempers are running short.
00:18The exchange erupted outside Johnson's office as Senators Ruben Gallego and Mark Kelly
00:22press the Speaker on why he has not sworn in Democrat Adelita Grijalva,
00:27who won a special election last month.
00:30The Senators say Johnson's delay is political, that he's trying to stop her from becoming the 218th signature
00:35needed to force a House vote to release more Jeffrey Epstein-related files.
00:40Watch.
00:41It has nothing to do with Epstein.
00:43The House Oversight Committee is working on the Epstein files right now,
00:48releasing 34,000 pages and more on the web.
00:50Let me finish.
00:52The House Oversight Committee...
00:53You just keep coming with excuses.
00:54This is an excuse so she doesn't sign on today.
00:56This is absurd.
00:57This is the longest time the House...
00:58If you want me to answer the question, if you ask questions...
01:00You should not actually answer the question.
01:02This entirely has to do with Epstein files.
01:04You see, this is a propensity stunt.
01:05Let me tell you what's happening.
01:06The House Oversight Committee is working on the release of the Epstein files.
01:10There are some of the biggest bulldogs in Congress,
01:12and the Republican and Democrat side are working on that aggressively.
01:16I'm met with the victims.
01:16Why are you blocking her, then?
01:18I'm not blocking her.
01:19I just told you.
01:19This is the longest time the House Oversight has been out of session that's not in a real office session.
01:25This is the longest time it's taken for someone to be sworn in.
01:27And it all happens to coincide with the fact that she's going to be the deciding vote on the discharge...
01:31I know why you're upset.
01:32I know why you're upset.
01:33Johnson insisted Grijalva has not been sworn in simply because the House is out of session
01:38and said he will do it as soon as the government is reopened.
01:41The Democratic senators pointed out that Johnson has sworn in lawmakers during past recesses,
01:47including two Florida Republicans earlier this year.
01:50The exchange turned testy enough that another Republican, New York Congressman Mike Lawler,
01:55stepped in telling the senators to, quote, back the hell off.
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