A single photograph taken during Attorney General Pam Bondi’s appearance before the House Judiciary Committee has triggered accusations that the Justice Department monitored the activity of lawmakers reviewing the Jeffrey Epstein files.
During Wednesday’s hearing, photographers captured Bondi holding a binder open to a page labeled “Jayapal Pramila Search History.” The visible page appeared to list specific documents accessed, including file numbers and descriptions. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, Democrat of Washington, had recently traveled with other members of Congress to a Justice Department annex to review less redacted Epstein materials on department owned computers.
The review sessions came after controversy surrounding the department’s broader release of Epstein related records. The Trump administration Justice Department announced last month that it was releasing more than 3 million pages, along with more than 2,000 videos and 180,000 images tied to Epstein investigations. Lawmakers who visited the annex said that while some material had been disclosed, significant information about Epstein associates remained withheld. At the same time, earlier redaction errors reportedly exposed the identities of dozens of victims.
The image of Bondi’s binder raised immediate questions about whether the Justice Department was tracking which files members of Congress examined during their oversight work.
In an interview on MS NOW, Jayapal publicly questioned why her search activity appeared in the attorney general’s materials.
“For us to go in and review the Epstein documents, and then to know that they have kept the search history of exactly what we searched for—and why was it that she brought that in her binder?” Jayapal asked. “Was she going to use that against me? Did they get that document for every single person? And what were they going to do with it?”
Jayapal said her team was contacting the Justice Department to determine how the search information was compiled and whether other lawmakers’ activity had also been recorded.
Speaking the following day on Democracy Now!, she said, “The Department of Justice should not be able to spy on us. We should be able to look at those files without anybody knowing what we searched and without that being used against us in some way.”
She continued, “It’s certainly not going to stop me from continuing to review the files, but it is absolutely outrageous, and it has to stop, and we need a new procedure.”
On social media, Jayapal described the situation as “totally unacceptable” and wrote that lawmakers would be “demanding a full accounting” of how the department uses search history. In a post on X, she stated, “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.”
Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, also called for an investigation. He asked the Justice Department’s inspector general to examine what he characterized as “spying” on members of Congress who reviewed the files at a department facility.
In a written statement, Raskin said that not only had the 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.”
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.”
Spokespeople for the Justice Department did not immediately return requests for comment. A representative for the inspector general’s office declined to comment.
The confrontation over search tracking unfolded during an already contentious hearing. Bondi’s testimony before the Judiciary Committee featured repeated clashes with Democratic lawmakers who pressed her about the department’s redaction practices and its handling of the Epstein files. At several points, she declined to directly answer questions. Reports described some of her exchanges as heated.
During the session, Bondi admonished lawmakers for refusing to “apologize” to or “thank” President Donald Trump. She described Trump as “the greatest president in American history.” At one point, she referenced the performance of the Dow Jones Industrial Average during questioning that concerned the Epstein investigation.
Some news reports observed that Bondi’s responses appeared to be a “performance…targeted specifically for Trump” rather than focused engagement with committee oversight.
The hearing also included Epstein survivors in attendance. Rep. Dan Goldman of New York asked the survivors to stand and raise their hands if they had attempted to speak with the Justice Department. All raised their hands. When asked if they had actually been able to meet with the department, none raised their hands. According to reporting from the hearing, all of the survivors present agreed that they felt ignored by Bondi and the DOJ.
As that exchange took place, Bondi reportedly sat with her arms crossed and did not look toward the survivors.
The allegation that the department tracked congressional searches adds another dimension to the broader dispute over transparency in the Epstein case. Lawmakers from both parties have traveled to the DOJ annex in recent days to review less redacted files, and some have publicly stated that substantial information about Epstein associates remains shielded from view.
Congress holds constitutional authority to conduct oversight of executive branch agencies, including the Justice Department. Whether monitoring search activity during such oversight constitutes routine logging or an intrusion into congressional processes is likely to be central to any inspector general review.
At this stage, the Justice Department has not publicly explained why Jayapal’s search history appeared in Bondi’s binder, whether similar logs were compiled for other lawmakers, or who authorized the inclusion of that material in the attorney general’s hearing documents.
As scrutiny continues, Jayapal has indicated she will proceed with reviewing the files. “The Department of Justice should not be able to spy on us. We should be able to look at those files without anybody knowing what we searched and without that being used against us in some way,” she said.
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