Top House Democrats opened a new inquiry Friday into whether the Department of Justice tracked lawmakers' searches of unredacted Jeffrey Epstein records after Attorney General Pam Bondi was photographed holding a page labeled "Jayapal Pramila Search History" in a House Judiciary Committee hearing this week.
In a Feb. 13 letter to Bondi, Reps. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., and Robert Garcia, D-Calif., ranking members of the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees, and Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., demanded the department "immediately cease tracking Members' review of the Epstein files" and said they want a new protocol that allows Congress to review fully unredacted material without being monitored.
The lawmakers also asked for written answers by Feb. 20, including how many members' searches were tracked, how long any data is retained, who accessed it, and whether it was used to prepare for Bondi's Feb. 11 appearance before the House Judiciary Committee.
The Department of Justice has said it logs searches on its systems during lawmakers' review "to protect against the release of victim information," but it did not explain why Bondi had a printout of an individual lawmaker's search history at the hearing.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., called the practice inappropriate, saying: "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."
He added that he hoped it was an "oversight."
The dispute is unfolding as lawmakers go to DOJ sites to review less-redacted Epstein-related records released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which became law Nov. 19, 2025, after President Donald Trump signed it.
DOJ said Jan. 30 that it had published more material, bringing total production to nearly 3.5 million pages, more than 2,000 videos, and 180,000 images, and directed the public to an online Epstein library for the released files.
Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
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