Lawmakers express bipartisan outrage as DOJ accused of ‘spying’ on members’ Epstein searches
Rebecca Beitsch - 02/12/26 | 2:58 PM ETLawmakers on both sides of the aisle are accusing the Department of Justice (DOJ) of spying on them as they reviewed the unredacted Epstein files on DOJ computers, tracking the documents they examined.
Attorney General Pam Bondi was photographed during a congressional appearance before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday flipping to a document titled “Jayapal Pramila Search History,” seemingly reviewing the activity of the Washington Democrat who tangled with Bondi during the hearing.
Bondi had a binder at the ready of stats and crime summaries to hurl at lawmakers during the contentious hearing, but members are unnerved that the DOJ apparently tracked their searches to have at the ready.
“It is totally inappropriate and against the separations of powers for the DOJ to surveil us as we search the Epstein files. Bondi showed up today with a burn book that held a printed search history of exactly what emails I searched. That is outrageous and I intend to pursue this and stop this spying on members,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) wrote on social platform X after seeing the photo.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) also expressed alarm, calling any effort to monitor lawmakers “inappropriate.”
“I think members should obviously have the right to peruse those at their own speed and with their own discretion. And I don’t think it’s appropriate for anybody to be tracking that. . . .
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5735974-doj-epstein-file-searches-lawmakers/
I could not disagree more with these members of Congress here. Awesome job, Bondi. If Jayapal wants to scream 'separation of powers', then she has no business scrounging through Executive Branch info.
