to the editor: House Speaker Mike Johnson's refusal to swear in a duly elected representative, Adelita Grijalva, is outrageous in itself (“She won a landslide election. But Trump and Jeffrey Epstein have her trapped in limbo.” October 12). But his excuse – that the House is not in session and therefore he cannot be sworn in during a pro forma session – makes it even worse, since the same President and the same House swore in two specially chosen representatives during pro forma sessions earlier this year. I'm sure the fact that the two specially elected representatives were Republicans while Rep. Grijalva is a Democrat has nothing to do with the issue.
The silver lining in all of this is that four House Republicans have joined 200 Democrats in a petition to release Jeffrey Epstein's records/documents. The courage of these four Republicans to challenge President Trump provides a ray of hope to those of us who value democracy.
Walter Oliver, Santa Paula
