Members of Congress sharply criticized the Justice Department over allegations that it was tracking what lawmakers were searching for as they viewed unredacted versions of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
A Reuters photo showed Bondi at a congressional hearing Wednesday holding a document labeled “Jayapal Pramila Search History.” The document listed Epstein files that the Democratic representative from Washington confirmed she searched.
The DOJ began allowing lawmakers this week to view unredacted Epstein files. The review process could take place in person at the Justice Department on DOJ computers. In a letter from the Justice Department to lawmakers obtained by NBC News, it said that it “will keep a log of the dates and times of all members’ reviews.”
A Justice Department spokesperson did not respond to NBC News' request for comment Wednesday evening.
The backlash from lawmakers adds to growing outrage over the department's handling of its Epstein records. At Wednesday's oversight hearing with the House Judiciary Committee, Bondi faced criticism from Democratic lawmakers and two Republicans who accused the department of mishandling survivors' information, improperly redacting files that named prominent individuals, among other concerns.
Jayapal said in a post on X that it was "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," Jayapal continued, referring to a stack of documents that Bondi read off of during the hearing. "That is outrageous and I intend to pursue this and stop this spying on members."
Jayapal told NBC News that she spoke to House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and confirmed "that that was my search history that she had it in the binder, that there’s a photograph of it that it matched what I searched, and that it was unacceptable."
She declined to elaborate on what she and Johnson discussed.
Jayapal told reporters Wednesday that “we’re going to demand an end to that.” In an NPR interview published Thursday morning, Jayapal said that after speaking with Johnson, “I do think that there is bipartisan agreement that we should be able to review those files without the Department of Justice surveilling us.”
Johnson said Thursday that he didn't think it was appropriate for anyone to track lawmaker searches.
“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," he told reporters on Capitol Hill. "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.”
Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, accused Bondi and her team of "spying on Members of Congress conducting oversight in yet another blatant attempt to intrude into Congress’s oversight processes."
In a statement Wednesday, Raskin demanded that the Justice Department "immediately cease tracking any Members’ searches," adding that he would ask the Justice Department's inspector general "to open an inquiry into this outrageous abuse of power."
Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, one of the most outspoken Republicans on the Epstein files, also alleged in a post on X that the "DOJ is tracking the Epstein documents Members of Congress search for, open, and review." In an NPR interview published Thursday morning, Mace described the process of reviewing unredacted documents at the Justice Department.
"There is someone or two people from the DOJ monitoring you as you sit on those computers," Mace said. "There is a tech person who logs you into the computer. They log you into the computer because they're giving you your own identification. They are tracking all of the documents that members of Congress open, and they're tracking everything that you do in that room."
Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., said it was “suspicious" that every member had to log on to the DOJ’s computer using their own specific login information. He added it was "inappropriate" that DOJ officials "followed our search history."
“We should have been informed of that,” he told reporters. “If that was going to be the case, to do it secretly is problematic.”
