Top Dem demands investigation into DOJ after Bondi flashes ‘search history’ document

A senior Democrat has demanded a watchdog investigation following the emergence of photographs that suggest the Justice Department has been monitoring the search history of lawmakers. These politicians were reviewing files related to the Jeffrey Epstein investigation.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, the leading Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, has formally requested the Justice Department's inspector general to probe what he described as "spying" on members of Congress. The lawmakers had been examining less-redacted versions of the Epstein documents this week at a department annex, utilizing department-owned computers.

Photographs taken during Attorney General Pam Bondi's hearing before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday showed her holding a binder open to a page that said, “Jayapal Pramila Search History” and listed a series of documents that were apparently reviewed. Pramila Jayapal is a Democratic congresswoman and participated on the Judiciary Committee which pressed Bondi during the hearing about the department's handling of the Epstein files.

Jayapal called it “totally unacceptable” and said lawmakers will be “demanding a full accounting” of how the department is using the search history.

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“Bondi has enough time to spy on Members of Congress, but can’t find it in herself to apologize to the survivors of Epstein’s horrific abuse,” Jayapal said in a post on X.

A bipartisan contingent of lawmakers has traveled in recent days to a Justice Department outpost to review less-redacted records from the files, but some who have seen the documents have complained that too much information about Epstein associates remains withheld from view. The Trump administration Justice Department said last month that it was releasing more than 3 million pages along with more than 2,000 videos and 180,000 images related to Epstein investigations.

Spokespeople for the Justice Department did not immediately return a request seeking comment Thursday, and a representative for the inspector general's office declined to comment.

In a statement, Raskin said that not only had the Justice Department withheld records from lawmakers “but now Bondi and her team are spying on members of Congress conducting oversight in yet another blatant attempt to intrude into Congress’s oversight processes.”

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He added: “DOJ must immediately cease tracking any Members’ searches, open up the Epstein review to senior congressional staff, and publicly release all files—with all the survivors’ information, and only the survivors’ information, properly redacted—as required by federal law.”

The alleged surveillance of members of Congress has been widely condemned, with even prominent Trump ally Nancy Mace taking a swipe at her own party.

“It’s creepy,” said Mace to a reporter from Zeteo News. “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.”

However, Mace refused to elaborate on how she learned that the DOJ was allegedly tracking how members of Congress use the files.

“I don’t want to say because I don’t want them to hide it,” she said.

She doubled down on her claims on X, suggesting that the DOJ had marked all documents that are searched for, opened and reviewed. Mace even claimed that the DOJ used the technology “timestamp” when the files were opened.