Former Attorney General Pam Bondi conducted government business using her grandmother’s name as an email alias — a longstanding Justice Department practice that can complicate access to public records, Bloomberg reported Friday.
Bloomberg’s Jason Leopold uncovered the address, [email protected], through a Freedom of Information Act request filed after President Donald Trump fired Bondi in April.
Leopold didn’t take long to decode the significance of the name.
“It only took a few seconds to uncover the relevance behind Bondi’s email alias: her grandmother’s name is Grace Maye,” he wrote Friday.
“On a more serious note, the use of pseudonymous email addresses by government officials can undermine transparency and could be an obstacle for anyone trying to obtain government documents,” he added.
The Justice Department says the practice, which dates back more than a decade, protects attorneys general against security threats. Their aliases remain undisclosed until they leave office, according to Bloomberg.
But the public is largely left in the dark about the secretive practice, Leopold told readers of his FOIA Files newsletter.
“That could lead FOIA requesters to chase documents they know exist but don’t turn up during a search because they were overlooked or missed by FOIA officers,” he warned Friday.
With Bondi’s address now public, Leopold added, people seeking her records can explicitly include the newly revealed account in their requests.
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