Speaker Mike Johnson’s Totally Normal Delay That Definitely Has Nothing to Do With The Epstein Files

From Washington, D.C., where Dolly Parton is fine and Mike Johnson is totally not hiding anything, Patrick Gutfield breaks down why the Speaker refuses to swear in Arizona’s newest congresswoman—who just happens to hold the deciding signature to release the Epstein files. Plus, Attorney General Pam Bondi turns her Senate testimony into a masterclass in dodging questions, and Dolly’s sister accidentally terrifies America with a late-night prayer post.  

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Callaroga Shark media from Washington, d C. Where Dolly Parton
is fine, this is ballet only. Normally I beg you
not to take my man, but can you please take Trump.
I'm Patrick Guttfield, and Speaker Mike Johnson is insisting that
keeping Democratic Representative elect Adelita Grihava from being sworn in

(00:25):
has absolutely nothing to do with the Jeffrey Epstein files.
And you know it's true when someone says it has
nothing to do with that twice in one press conference.
Here's what's happening. Grihava won her special election in Arizona
back on September twenty third one. It decisively. In fact,
you'd think winning an election would be enough to, you know,
get sworn in and start doing the job. But Speaker

(00:47):
Johnson has decided to hold off on that part. Just
a small administrative delay. Nothing weird about it. Now here's
where it gets interesting. Grijalva's signature would be the two
hundred and eighteenth, the final one needed on something called
a discharge petition. This petition would force the House to
vote on releasing the Epstein files. So she's literally one

(01:07):
signature away from triggering a vote that House leadership really
doesn't want. But Johnson swears, and I mean swears, that
her swearing in delay has nothing to do with that
at all. When asked when she'd actually be sworn in,
Johnson said, we'll schedule it, I guess whenever she wants. Okay,
how about right now? Does right now work? But remember

(01:28):
this delay has nothing, absolutely nothing to do with those
Epstein files, which no former casino owner is in. Definitely not.
Johnson said so himself twice. Attorney General Pam Bondi sat
before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday for her first
oversight hearing since taking office, and let me tell you,
it was almost five hours of watching someone turn I

(01:50):
plead the fifth into an art form, except she didn't
plead the fifth. She just didn't answer anything the committee
wanted to know about some pretty straightforward stuff. Why is
the Justice Department prosecuting former FBI Director James Comy, what's
happening with the Jeffrey Epstein files review? And hey, whatever
happened to that FBI bribery investigation into Trump's bordersar Tom Homan?

(02:14):
You know the kind of questions you'd think an Attorney
general might have answers to, but Bondi had a different
strategy dodge, deflect, and deploy personal attacks. When Senator Richard
Blumenthal asked her questions, she accused him of lying about
his military record. When Senator Mazie Hirono pressed her, Bondie

(02:35):
insinuated she supported Antifa. It was like watching someone play
congressional hearing bingo, except instead of calling out numbers, she
was calling out senator's entire careers. The absolute highlight, and
I use that term loosely, came when Senator Dick Durbin
asked whether Trump had consulted with her before deploying National

(02:55):
Guard troops to Chicago. A reasonable question rightsident sends troops
to a city, did he talk to the attorney general? First?
Simple yes or no. Bondi's response, I wish you love
Chicago as much as you hate President Trump. If you're
not going to protect your citizens, president Trump will, which
doesn't answer the question, but it does check the box

(03:17):
for zingers that will play well on social media, and
sure enough, administration officials were clipping and sharing these exchanges
in real time. Nothing says independent Justice Department like your
boss's staff live tweeting your clapbacks. Now about James Comy,
the former FBI director, is set to appear in federal
court today on charges that he lied to Congress. The

(03:40):
Justice Department pushed this indictment through despite career prosecutors saying
there wasn't enough evidence. In fact, they were so convinced
there wasn't a case that they had to fire the
US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia and replace
him with someone willing to prosecute. When you have to
fire the prosecutor to get the prosecution, that's usually a sign.

(04:01):
Senator am Kobachar asked Bondi about a Trump's social media
post from days before Comee's indictment, a post where Trump
urged the Justice Department to move quickly against Komy. Was
that perhaps improper presidential interference? Bondai's answer, President Trump is
the most transparent president in American history. I don't think
he said anything he hasn't said for years, which is

(04:23):
technically true. Trump has been saying he wants Komy prosecuted
for years, but he's been demanding this forever. Isn't exactly
the defense of prosecutorial independence you'd hope for. She also
added that Komy was indicted by one of the most
liberal grand juries in the country, which is a fascinating
legal argument. Yes, we brought the case, but the jury

(04:46):
pool leans left, so that makes it okay. When a
senator challenged her integrity, she fired back, don't you ever
challenge my integrity. I have abided by every ethical standard.
Do not question my ability to be fair and impartial
as attorney general, which would be more convincing if she'd
answered literally any of the questions about whether she'd been

(05:07):
fair and impartial. And at the end of it all,
we know exactly as much about the Komi prosecution, the
Epstein files, and the Home and investigation as we did
before she sat down, which, depending on your perspective, was
either the whole point or the entire problem. Dolly Parton's

(05:27):
sister Frida caused a minor international incident on Tuesday when
she posted a late night prayer request for the seventy
nine year old country music legend, sparking immediate widespread panic
among fans who assumed the worst. Frieda wrote that she'd
been up all night praying for Dolly, who hasn't been
feeling her best lately, and asked fans to be prayer
warriors and join her in prayer, which in hindsight might

(05:50):
have been a touch dramatic for what turned out to
be a routine case of feeling under the weather. Within hours,
the post had generated anxious responses from fans and a
flurry of news headlines speculating about Parton's health. So by
Tuesday evening, Frida was back online doing damage control. I
didn't mean to scare anyone or make it sound so serious,

(06:11):
she wrote. She's been a little under the weather, and
I simply asked for prayers because I believe so strongly
in the power of prayer. It was nothing more than
a little sister asking for prayers for her big sister. Translation,
my bad. Everyone didn't mean to imply the Queen of
Country was on her deathbed. Just wanted some good vibes,

(06:31):
to be fair. Fans have been on edge since Parton
postponed her December Las Vegas performances until September twenty twenty
six due to unspecified health challenges requiring a few procedures,
and last month she withdrew from an event at Dollywood
because of an infection related to a kidney stone. But
Parton herself tried to calm everyone down last week writing

(06:51):
don't worry about me quitting the business because God hasn't
said anything about stopping yet. Portions of today's show were
made with the help of AI and working nine to five.