MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace on October 22, 2025

MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace strongly criticized House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) over his refusal to swear in Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.), saying he has "doubled and tripled and quadrupled down" on not seating the duly elected Democratic lawmaker.

During an MSNBC segment Wednesday, Wallace said, "He is claiming that he's following House traditions: his swearing in members only during regular sessions. Except that isn't his own tradition. As with many things MAGA Republican, there's an obvious and clear double standard staring us in the face when Republicans are the ones who win and would benefit Mike Johnson, as he did in April, swore in two new House GOP members during a pro forma session."

"See, Mike, you can do it!" Wallace said after playing a clip of Johnson swearing in Reps. Randy Fine (R-Fla.) and Jimmy Patronis (R-Fla.) in April. "That oath was administered when they were not in session."

On Tuesday, the state of Arizona, via its Attorney General Kris Mayes, filed a federal lawsuit against the U.S. House of Representatives for refusing to swear in Grijalva, who won a special election on September 23 to represent Arizona’s 7th District.

The lawsuit argues that by delaying Grijalva’s induction, Johnson is depriving more than 800,000 Arizonans of representation and is effectively “taxation without representation.”

While Johnson says he intends to seat her when the House returns from his imposed recess and after the government shutdown ends, Arizona counters that the Constitution doesn’t give the Speaker the power to hold up a duly‑elected member simply by delaying the swearing‑in.

As Wallace noted, Grijalva’s swearing‑in would give Democrats a critical 218th signature on legislation to force a vote on releasing unclassified records related to the late convicted child predator Jeffrey Epstein.

"As for Mike Johnson's motives for breaking his own very recent precedent and refusing to seek Grijalva, a Democratic representative, we're left to guess," Wallace said. "But we do know that Grijalva has promised publicly to be the pivotal 218th signature on the house's bipartisan Epstein discharge petition."

Watch the segment below:

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