Speaker Mike Johnson on Thursday expressed considerations with the Division of Justice’s monitoring of lawmakers’ search historical past of the unredacted Jeffrey Epstein recordsdata, although he questioned whether or not the surveillance was intentional or a mistake — although the info was compiled for the legal professional basic’s analysis binder at Wednesday’s Home Judiciary listening to.
“I don’t assume it’s applicable for anyone to be monitoring that. So, I’ll echo that to anybody within the DOJ. And I’m positive it was an oversight, that’s my guess, OK?” Johnson stated.
Home Speaker Mike Johnson speaks within the Rayburn Reception Room after formally unveiling the Frederick Douglass Press Gallery on the Capitol, Feb. 12, 2026.
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Photos
On Wednesday, Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal accused Attorney General Pam Bondi of “spying” on her search history when the congresswoman visited the Division of Justice earlier this week to view unredacted files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Since Monday, lawmakers have been allowed to go to the DOJ to evaluate the unredacted recordsdata on 4 pc kiosks.
Photographs from Reuters from a House Judiciary Committee hearing at which Bondi appeared on Wednesday present printouts titled: “Jayapal Pramila Search Historical past” and embrace a diagram of a number of paperwork from the DOJ’s Epstein recordsdata that Jayapal searched.
The Justice Division on Thursday afternoon stated that in the course of the evaluate of the unredacted Epstein recordsdata, “DOJ logs all searches made on its methods to guard towards the discharge of sufferer info.” The DOJ didn’t provide any clarification for why Bondi had a printout of Jayapal’s search historical past.
U.S. Legal professional Normal Pam Bondi holds a chunk of paper labelled “Jayapal Pramila Search Historical past”, in reference to U.S. Consultant Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), a member of the Home Judiciary Committee, in the course of the committee’s listening to on oversight of the Justice Division, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 11, 2026.
Kent Nishimura/Reuters
Johnson, who obtained Jayapal’s account of the episode in a telephone name with the congresswoman Wednesday night, added that members ought to “have the proper” to view recordsdata at “their very own pace and with their very own discretion.”
Republican Rep. Nancy Mace additionally stated she believed the DOJ was monitoring her as she carried out her evaluate of the unredacted paperwork.
Throughout the aisle, Home Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries stated he was not stunned that the DOJ tracked their search historical past “as a result of the bar is so low.”
“There isn’t a backside for the Trump administration, for Pam Bondi, for the opposite sycophants who’re a part of this corrupt administration,” Jeffries stated on Thursday.
Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz stated every lawmaker who opinions the unredacted Epstein recordsdata receives a selected login to signal on to a pc to see the paperwork — as an alternative of terminals which can be open to make use of, which Moscowitz known as “suspicious.”
“I imply, I am not embarrassed that the paperwork I used to be taking a look at, so I do not know that it is a massive gotcha. However it’s inappropriate. We must always have been knowledgeable of that,” Moskowitz stated.
Rep. Jared Moskowitz holds up a Trump Bible as he questions Legal professional Normal Pam Bondi within the Home Judiciary Committee on the Capitol, Feb. 11, 2026.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Jayapal advised reporters on Thursday that there “must be a complete new course of” the place lawmakers are assured that the Division of Justice “shouldn’t be spying on us and conserving our search histories after which utilizing it towards us.”
“Surveilling us and spying on us after which utilizing it in a ‘burn e-book’ binder towards us, is totally unacceptable, and so the method has to vary straight away,” Jayapal advised ABC Information Capitol Hill Correspondent Jay O’Brien. “They can’t save our search histories. They can’t spy on us, and that is what we’re demanding.”
Rep. Pramila Jayapal listens throughout a listening to earlier than the Home Democratic Steering and Coverage Committee on the Capitol, Feb. 12, 2026.
Alex Wong/Getty Photos
Jayapal stated there “must be accountability,” including Democrats are “taking a look at all of the choices for that.”
Rep. Jamie Raskin, the rating Democrat on the committee main the Bondi listening to Wednesday, stated in a press release that he plans to ask the DOJ’s inspector basic to launch an inquiry into the matter.
Jayapal stated she would welcome Republican collaboration within the course of.
“I believe that there are a number of Republicans that do not like this. They had been additionally spied on once they went and so I hope that this generally is a bipartisan effort to say that is completely inappropriate. It has to cease,” she stated.
However the chairman who presided over Wednesday’s listening to, Republican Rep. Jim Jordan, dismissed considerations that the DOJ monitored lawmakers’ search historical past.
“I imply come on, it’s fairly wealthy. It is fairly wealthy to listen to the complaints after, after what the DOJ has achieved to Republican members of Congress underneath Jack Smith,” Jordan stated, referencing “Arctic Frost,” which captured telephone logs of a number of Republicans.
Jordan contended that the DOJ had his telephone data for 2 and a half years, in addition to former Speaker of the Home Kevin McCarthy.
“They knew who the speaker was calling earlier than votes, who he was calling after votes, when the decision occurred, how lengthy it lasted, the place he was at,” Jordan stated. “And now they’re elevating this concern? Like, OK.”
Jayapal urged Republicans to “be constant about this.”
“I’ve labored with a number of colleagues throughout the aisle, together with Chairman Jordan, on [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] and surveillance. It is a prime instance of that,” she stated.
