Lawmakers are demanding that the Department of Justice stop tracking their searches of the unredacted Epstein files after the practice appeared to be exposed during Attorney General Pam Bondi’s testimony before Congress earlier this week.
While testifying, a Reuters photographer captured a piece of paper in Bondi’s binder with the search history of Rep. Pramila Jayapal, R-Wash. Jayapal was one of the representatives on the Judiciary Committee questioning Bondi at the time.
“It is totally inappropriate and against the separations of powers for the DOJ to surveil us as we search the Epstein files,” Jayapal wrote on X. “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.”
Following the revelation the DOJ confirmed to Axios that it was tracking the searches of Congressional representatives: “DOJ has extended Congress the opportunity to review unredacted documents in the Epstein files. As a part of that review, DOJ logs all searches made on its systems to protect against the release of victim information.”
NBC News reported that Jayapal took her concerns to Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who said he’d address the matter with the DOJ.
“My understanding is that there are computers set up where the DOJ was allowing access to the files, and I think members should obviously have the right to peruse those at their own speed and with their own discretion,” Johnson told NBC News. “And I don’t think it’s appropriate for anybody to be tracking that. So I will echo that to anybody involved with DOJ, and I’m sure it was an oversight. That’s my guess.”
The kerfuffle is the latest related to the Epstein files.
Jeffrey Epstein was a disgraced financier who had ties to prominent individuals. Epstein killed himself in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
The 2019 indictment alleged that Epstein sexually exploited and abused dozens of underage girls by enticing them to engage in sex acts with him in exchange for money. The government alleged at the time that Epstein worked with others to ensure that he had a steady supply of minor victims.
The House Oversight Committee began investigating the Epstein case last year, issuing a subpoena for records related to the case in August. Those efforts led to Congress passing the Epstein Files Transparency Act on Nov. 19. The Justice Department has so far released more than 3.5 million documents related to the case, although millions remain unreleased. Many of the documents that have been released have had redactions.
