WASHINGTON — Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said Thursday that he did not think it was appropriate for the Justice Department to be tracking the search histories of lawmakers who are reviewing files from the Jeffrey Epstein investigation.
The rare rebuke to the Trump administration came as photographs emerged revealing an apparent index of records reviewed by a Democratic member of Congress who was among the lawmakers given an opportunity to read less-redacted versions of the Epstein files at a department annex and on department-owned computers.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, asked the Justice Department's inspector general to investigate what he characterized as “spying,” and Johnson, a close ally of President Donald Trump, offered his own scolding when asked about the issue Thursday.
“I think members should obviously have the right to peruse those at their own speed and with their own discretion. I don’t think it’s appropriate for anybody to be tracking that,” Johnson told reporters. “I will echo that to anybody involved with the DOJ — and I’m sure it was an oversight.”
The Justice Department said in a statement that, as part of the process of permitting lawmakers to review the Epstein files, it "logs all searches made on its systems to protect against the release of victim information.”
Photographs taken during Attorney General Pam Bondi's hearing before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday showed her with a printout that said "Jayapal Pramila Search History" and that listed a series of documents that were apparently reviewed. Pramila Jayapal, a Democratic congresswoman, was among the Judiciary Committee members who 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.
“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.
The Justice Department statement did not explain why Bondi came to the House hearing with information on lawmaker searches.
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.
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.”
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.”