Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes threatened legal action against House Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday for failing to seat Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva.

In a letter to Johnson, Mayes accused the House GOP leader of violating the Constitution by unnecessarily delaying the Democrat’s swearing-in ceremony.

“Arizona’s right to a full delegation, and the right of the residents of CD 7 to representation from the person they recently voted for, are not up for debate and may not be delayed or used as leverage in negotiations about unrelated legislation,” Mayes, who is also a Democrat, wrote in the letter.

Grivalja won a special election in Arizona’s deep-blue 7th Congressional District to replace her late father, former Rep. Raúl Grijalva, last month. Johnson has maintained Grijalva would be sworn in when the House is back in session — once Congress reaches an agreement to reopen the government — despite at one point telling reporters she would be sworn in “as soon as she wants.”

In the letter, Mayes said that amounted to “trying to use Arizona’s constitutional right to representation in the House as a bargaining chip.”

Democrats have accused Johnson and Republicans of stalling to prevent Grijalva from being the final signatory needed on an effort to force a vote on legislation related to releasing files about the investigation into sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Mayes said her office was keeping “every option open to us, including litigation,” to hold Johnson accountable and ensure Grijalva was sworn in promptly.

Johnson’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan wants former special counsel Jack Smith to sit for an interview with his panel.

The Ohio Republican sent a letter Tuesday demanding testimony from the lead Biden-era attorney whose investigations into President Donald Trump led to a number of felony charges that were ultimately dropped after the 2024 election.

It follows revelations last week that Smith’s probe obtained the phone records of a number of sitting Republican lawmakers as part of his inquiry into Trump’s effort to subvert the 2020 election results, culminating in the attacks on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

“As the Committee continues its oversight, your testimony is necessary to understand the full extent to which the Biden-Harris Justice Department weaponized federal law enforcement,” Jordan wrote to Smith.

The panel has already conducted interviews with other prosecutors who were involved in the investigations into Trump in the four years he was out of office, including Jay Bratt, Thomas Windom and J.P. Cooney.

Jordan asserted in his Tuesday letter that those individuals have been uncooperative with the House Judiciary Committee, and that Smith himself has so far failed to respond to earlier requests to turn over documents.

“As the Special Counsel, you are ultimately responsible for the prosecutorial misconduct and constitutional abuses of your office,” said Jordan.

The GOP’s targeting of Smith comes as the party has sought to portray the Biden DOJ as retributive against the former Trump’s political foe. Meanwhile, Trump is leveraging his power over the Justice Department to attack his own adversaries, including New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI director James Comey.

James and Comey were indicted last week and denied the allegations of wrongdoing.

Senate Republicans are also eager for oversight into Smith’s collection of phone records of lawmakers, calling on Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley to hold hearings on the subject. Grassley has so far been noncommittal on the subject.

A lawyer representing Smith did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Thanksgiving travel season could be put at risk by an extended government shutdown, Republican leaders warned Tuesday on Capitol Hill, ratcheting up warnings about flight cancellations and airport chaos amid the ongoing standoff with congressional Democrats.

Leaders in both parties are starting to look to the Thanksgiving holiday as a looming pressure point after President Donald Trump acted over the weekend to ensure active-duty military paychecks arrive on time Wednesday by shifting Pentagon funds. Many congressional leaders saw that deadline as a forcing mechanism. Now it appears ready to pass without major political consequences — raising the possibility the shutdown could drag on for weeks more.

“As TSA agents and air traffic controllers show up without pay, Democrats brag they won’t budge until planes fall out of the sky,” said Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Mich.), the GOP conference chair. “Really? Seriously?”

The current shutdown, which began Oct. 1, would have to blow past the record of 35 days set in 2019 to threaten Thanksgiving, which falls on Nov. 27. Air traffic controllers and airport security personnel are working during the shutdown but going unpaid, and personnel have reported sick at higher rates or otherwise not shown up to work under similar circumstances in the past.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and other leaders said Tuesday those impacts had already started and would escalate as time goes on and on.

“Airports will be flooded with flight cancellations and delays amid the busiest time time to travel all year, and the list goes on and on,” House Majority Whip Tom Emmer said alongside Speaker Mike Johnson at a news conference Tuesday, calling on Democrats to “reopen our government.”