Republicans have called out Attorney General Pam Bondi after she brought a printout of a Democratic lawmaker’s search history related to the Jeffrey Epstein files to a House Judiciary Committee hearing.
Images from the fiery hearing on Wednesday show Bondi holding a note titled “Jayapal Pramila Search History” that appeared to track what the Washington congresswoman was looking for in the Department of Justice’s unredacted files linked to the late pedophile.
The note was included in what appeared to be a “burn book” Bondi used to fire off prepared lines of attack and insults at Democrats who questioned her about the Trump administration’s botched handling of the Epstein files’ release.
Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina blasted Bondi and the DOJ for allegedly snooping on a lawmaker’s search history and attempting to use it against her during a public hearing, calling it “creepy.”
“I’m pretty tech-savvy. I’ve played around with the system. They’re tracking every file that we open, and when we open it. They’re tracking everything,” Mace told Zeteo reporter Prem Thakker.
“They give each of us a login with our name attached to it, and every single file that we open, regardless of whether we even read it, is tagged with our name,” Mace added. “So they get the search history and the files that we opened.”
Mace, who is running for governor of South Carolina, also said the DOJ computers used by lawmakers to access the Epstein files seem to run on “clunky” Microsoft 95 programs.
House Speaker Mike Johnson also told MS Now’s Syedah Asgar that it would be “inappropriate” for the DOJ to review Jayapal’s search history in hopes of using it as a line of attack.
Johnson, who has a history of claiming ignorance about major political stories, added that he had not seen the reports and did not want to comment on “an allegation that is unsubstantiated.”
Jayapal accused Bondi of “spying” on her while sharing an image of the printed search history Bondi displayed at Wednesday’s hearing on X.
“It is totally inappropriate and against the separation of powers for the DOJ to surveil us as we search the Epstein files,” Jayapal posted.
“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.”
Jayapal delivered one of the most powerful moments of Wednesday’s hearing when she grilled Bondi on why the DOJ had redacted the names of some Epstein associates in the files, including alleged co-conspirators, while repeatedly exposing the names of victims whose identities are protected by law.
Jayapal asked the 11 Epstein victims seated behind Bondi to stand if they wished and raise their hands if they had not yet been contacted by Trump’s DOJ about the disgraced financier’s crimes. All 11 stood and raised their hands.
She then urged Bondi to turn around and apologize to the victims. Bondi refused and instead began attacking her predecessor, Merrick Garland, saying she was not going “to get in the gutter with this woman with these theatrics.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the Department of Justice for comment.
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