Attorney General Pam Bondi ignited a social media firestorm on Wednesday after a photographer snapped photos during a combative House Judiciary Committee hearing that appeared to list Democratic lawmakers' searches of the Justice Department's unredacted Epstein document database.
Photos snapped by Reuters photographer Kent Nishimura showed Bondi holding a piece of paper labeled "Jayapal Pramila Search History", in reference to Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), a member of the committee that was grilling Bondi over her department's handling of the files in the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking case.
Jayapal said Bondi came in with a “burn book” holding a printed record of “exactly what emails I searched,” and called this “spying on members.”
"It is totally inappropriate and against the separations of powers for the DOJ to surveil us as we search the Epstein files. Bondi showed up today with a burn book that held a printed search history of exactly what emails I searched. That is outrageous and I intend to pursue this and stop this spying on members," Jayapal wrote on X.
And she wasn't alone.
Syedah Asghar of MS NOW wrote on X that even House Speaker Mike Johnson expressed alarm over the report.
"NEWS: Speaker Johnson tells me it 'it would be inappropriate,' if the DOJ looked through Rep. Pramila Jayapal's (D-WA) search history. Johnson cautioned he hadn't seen the reports and didn't want to comment on 'an allegation that is unsubstantiated.'"
Former Rep. Barbara Comstock (D-VA) chided on X, "For all the R members freaking out about being 'spied' on ( They made Jan 6 calls to Trump) @pambondi is tracking your search history! What else is Pam tracking on members?"
Journalist Ahmed Baba wrote on X, "This is wild: Surveilling Dems’ search activity on the unredacted Epstein Files archive to use it to prep for the hearing. What else are they using that data for? A weaponized DOJ tracking what threads Dems are inquiring about in the Epstein files feels really off to me."
Progressive influencer Harry Sisson wrote on X, "WTF… The DOJ saved the search history of members of Congress while they were looking through the Epstein files. This is insane."
X commentator Molly Ploofkins questioned on X, "Why does the Attorney General of the United States have the search history of sitting members of Congress?"
She answered her own question in a follow-up post.
"Spoiler alert: It's f---ing fascism."