Rep. Pramila Jayapal said she is “looking at all the options” to hold Attorney General Pam Bondi accountable for saving lawmakers’ search histories of unredacted Epstein files and has spoken with Speaker Mike Johnson about her concerns.
“They should not be spying on us. They should not keep our search histories. There is a separation of power that allows us as lawmakers to go and review files whenever we want and see whatever we want,” Jayapal told reporters on Thursday.
Jayapal declined to share details of her conversation with Johnson, but expressed optimism that her effort to hold Bondi accountable will draw Republican support, particularly after Republicans have faced surveillance operations on their own personal devices.
Speaking to reporters Thursday, Johnson said he didn’t think it was “appropriate for anybody to be tracking,” lawmakers’ searches.
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“So I will echo that to anybody involved with DOJ, and I’m sure it was an oversight. That’s my guess,” Johnson said.
Jayapal said she believes Bondi’s possession of her search history was “intentional.”
She confirmed that Bondi possessed an accurate copy of her search history in a binder the attorney general brought to her tense hearing before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.
“She wanted to know what emails we were going to ask her about, and she wanted to then use that information for surveillance of members of Congress against us,” Jayapal added.
The Democrat accused Bondi of bungling the Justice Department’s release of the Epstein files. The files released last month included unredacted names and nude photographs of Epstein’s victims, while redacting the names of potential conspirators in Epstein’s trafficking ring.
Bondi shouted and hurled insults at lawmakers, including many who questioned her on the Justice Department’s release of millions of records that exposed victims.
At one point in the hearing, Jayapal asked Bondi to apologize to the victims sitting in the room, whose personal information was exposed and who have yet to meet with Justice Department officials. Bondi refused, calling Jayapal’s request “theatrics.”
“I gave her a real opportunity to apologize to the survivors, and I think she was thrown off by it. She was flustered. She wasn’t expecting it. She should have responded on a human level,” Jayapal said Thursday.
Jayapal told NPR Thursday that the Justice Department’s redactions violate Congress’ legislation ordering the release of the files.
“The transparency act that we passed in Congress specifically said you have to redact the private information of survivors, and you have to not redact the private information, the personal information of any potential predators or co-conspirators.”
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