Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal accuses DOJ of 'spying' on her search history from unredacted Epstein files review
House Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal accused Attorney General Pam Bondi of "spying" on her search history when the congresswoman visited the Department of Justice earlier this week to view unredacted Jeffrey Epstein files.
"It is totally inappropriate and against the separations of powers for the DOJ to surveil us as we search the Epstein files," Jayapal said in a post 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."
Photos from a House Judiciary Committee hearing at which Bondi appeared on Wednesday show printouts she referenced were titled: "Jayapal Pramila Search History."
A diagram on the page shows several documents from the DOJ's Epstein files that Jayapal searched. File numbers and brief descriptions of the contents are shown, according to photos taken of Bondi's document.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, the ranking Democrat on the committee, said in a statement that he plans to ask the DOJ's inspector general to launch an inquiry into whether the DOJ monitored lawmakers' search history while reviewing the Epstein files.
"It is an outrage that DOJ is tracking Members' investigative steps undertaken to ensure that DOJ is complying with the Epstein File Transparency Act and using this information for the Attorney General's embarrassing polemical purposes. DOJ must immediately cease tracking any Members' searches," Raskin said.
At the outset of Wednesday's hearing, Raskin used his opening statement to condemn Bondi's use of a so-called "burn book" to prepare attacks against Democratic members.
"We saw your performance in the Senate and we are not going to accept that," Raskin warned. "This isn't a game. In the Senate you brought something with you called a burn book, a binder of smears to attack members personally for doing the people's work of oversight. Please, set the burn book aside and answer questions."
Those comments came as Raskin delivered his opening statement at Wednesday's combative hearing, where Bondi sparred with lawmakers, traded insults with them and at times refused to answer their questions.
The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to ABC's request for comment.
Since Monday, lawmakers have been allowed to visit the DOJ to view unredacted Epstein files -- which has prompted fierce backlash from lawmakers critical of redactions that were maintained by the Department in defiance of the Epstein Transparency Act, which only allowed redactions to protect victims and their personally identifiable data and information.
Another lawmaker who visited the secure facility at the Department of Justice to view the unredacted documents, Republican Rep. Nancy Mace, of South Carolina, said she believed the department was tracking her as she conducted her review on Wednesday.
"Yes. I will confirm. DOJ is tracking the Epstein documents Members of Congress search for, open, and review," Mace posted on X. "I was able to navigate the system today and I won't disclose how or the nature of how; but confirmed the DOJ is TAGGING ALL DOCUMENTS Members of Congress search, open and review. Based on how I confirmed this, there are timestamps associated with this tracking."
