The Republican Party’s message to voters that the government shutdown, with no end in sight, is the fault of Democrats is being muddled by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) whose refusal to seat a newly elected Democrat is sucking up all the oxygen in the room, according to a journalist.

During an MSNBC “Morning Joe” panel discussion on the budget impasse, Politico’s Jonathan Martin claimed Johnson is handcuffing his own party’s attacks on Democrats by not swearing in Arizona’s Adelita Grijalva, who was elected to fill her late father’s seat in the House.

After it was pointed out that Arizona’s attorney general is now suing the speaker for dragging his feet, Martin noted that Johnson’s fears about the possible release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, with Grijalva being the deciding vote, is complicating getting the government back to work.

“I mean, this is about, it's about, at least in part, the Epstein files,” he pointed out. “They [Republicans] know that she's the decisive vote here — would be able to release that.”

“Moreover, I mean, this is also just reflective, it seems to me, of an own goal,” he suggested. “It's a reminder he's keeping the House out. And that's something, at a moment of the shutdown, that I think a lot of that's contributing, I think, to why the Republicans are faring so poorly in the polls.”

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