Rookie star – Jackson Hawes breaks down the importance of getting involved in the Buffalo community

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.

A Trump administration top housing official has referred a fourth Democratic official and "vocal critic" of President Donald Trump to the Justice Department over allegations of mortgage and tax fraud, according to reports Thursday.

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) — now the fourth Democratic official to face mortgage fraud allegations in the last several months — could be under a potential federal criminal probe over his Washington, D.C. home, according to NBC News.

In a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi on Wednesday, Trump attack dog and housing finance director Bill Pulte — who oversees the U.S. mortgage market and also runs Fannie Mae and brother firm Freddie Mac, taking over both company boards and making himself chairman of both organizations — wrote that Swalwell may have made false or misleading statements on his loan documents. The agency's acting inspector general is also reportedly investigating.

Swalwell released a statement to NBC News, explaining he is the latest opponent to face attacks from the Trump administration.

"As the most vocal critic of Donald Trump over the last decade and as the only person who still has a surviving lawsuit against him, the only thing I am surprised about is that it took him this long to come after me," he said.

Trump has repeatedly urged the prosecution of his political opponents, both on social media posts and in speeches.

“Like James Comey and John Bolton, Adam Schiff and Lisa Cook, Letitia James and the dozens more to come — I refuse to live in fear in what was once the freest country in the world,” Swalwell said. “Of course, I will not end my lawsuit against him. And I will not stop speaking out against the President and speaking up for Californians.”

Each of the accused Trump opponents have denied any wrongdoing.