GALLERY: Florida Gov. DeathSantis Fundraiser in WNY

A professor of international politics was stunned during an interview on Thursday because Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has still not sworn in Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva of Arizona after more than a month after her election.

Grijalva, a Democrat, won a special election to replace her late father last month. She has pledged to support a discharge petition to force a discussion about releasing the Epstein files, which some experts have suggested is the main reason Grijalva has not been sworn in.

Scott Lucas, who teaches international politics at the Clinton Institute at University College Dublin, discussed Grijalva's situation in a new interview for "The Trump Effect" podcast.

"They're just trying to avoid the reckoning," Lucas said. "The fact here is I don't think you're going to shift Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and that handful of Republicans."

"It just smells fishy," he added. "It smells fishy that they will not even allow a discussion on this."

Lucas added that the situation with Prince Andrew in the UK adds an interesting wrinkle in the case.

"I honestly think that Johnson and the Trump camp just think it'll go away, and the reason why I think Trump may think that is...he's gotten away with it for so long, [he] can get away with it again," Lucas said.

MAGA insider Laura Loomer suggested President Donald Trump was not to blame after he chose to meet with a former terrorist the day before Veterans Day.

On Monday, Trump welcomed Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa to the White House despite his past ties to terrorism. The Syrian leader had links to Al-Qaeda under the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani, and he battled U.S. forces in Iraq before entering the war in Syria.

At one point, al-Sharaa had a $10 million U.S. bounty on his head and was eventually imprisoned by U.S. forces in Syria for several years.

Loomer blamed the meeting between him and Trump on "the people who work for President Trump."

"Sometimes I feel like some of the people who work for President Trump deliberately go out of their way to sabotage him," the Trump insider wrote Tuesday on X. "Who said: let's invite the ISIS terrorist to the White House for a photo op in the Oval the day before Veterans Day? How many US soldiers did Julani kill?"

Several of Loomer's followers accused her of holding Trump blameless.

"I think it's high time that people stop making excuses for Trump by blaming the people around him like he has no control whatsoever," one person replied to Loomer. "Just remember the guy sitting in Florida who everybody MAGA thought was not qualified to be president is doing far more conservative things than Trump ever thought of doing."

"I am a huge Trump supporter and voted for him 3 times. I hate feeling betrayed by what he's doing but I am," another commenter said. "He's imploding from within his own administration. It's his fault tho... He's his own worst enemy because his ego blinds his common sense."