During contentious testimony on Wednesday, some congressional members suspected Attorney General Pam Bondi of abusing the Justice Department to spy on how they planned to question her.
In an exclusive conversation with Raw Story, Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) outlined precisely why he believes this is the case — and what it says about the Trump administration.
“Pam Bondi came prepared to mislead, to defend, to insult, to refuse to answer,” said Johnson. “It is an exercise that she prepared for.”
Beyond that, he added, “I understand that she may also have had a list of items that each member of Congress who presented themselves to the Department of Justice to review the Epstein files unredacted, the exact and precise documents that those Congresspeople looked at. That’s what I heard. And you have to request specific ones.”
“So what we have is the possibility of the DOJ under Pam Bondi, and Pam Bondi herself, having the activity in DOJ computers — in other words, you track what members of Congress are looking at on your systems. That should not be. And then you come to Congress today armed with that information ready to, ready to defend yourself. Or use in whatever way you decide might be most appropriate.”
“That smacks of, you know, there being a surveillance state,” he added.
Johnson further agreed that Bondi was perpetrating a double standard, given the Trump administration, and its allies in Congress, expressing fury over former special counsel Jack Smith investigating the phone records of lawmakers like Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who had spoken with Trump in the leadup to the Jan. 6 attack and the plot to overturn the 2020 election. Senate Republicans even slipped a provision into a recent funding bill that would let them sue the Justice Department for this.
“The duplicity is astounding,” said Johnson.
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