Pam Bondi promised transparency when Trump handed her the keys to the Department of Justice.
Now Republican Rep. Nancy Mace has confirmed the DOJ is monitoring every single Epstein document members of Congress search.
House Speaker Mike Johnson – who rarely breaks with Trump – just called it inappropriate and demanded the DOJ stop immediately.
Mace Figured Out The System
Rep. Nancy Mace has been one of the loudest voices demanding full transparency on the Epstein files.
She went to DOJ headquarters last week to review the unredacted documents.
And she discovered something alarming.
"DOJ is tracking the Epstein documents Members of Congress search for, open, and review," Mace wrote Wednesday evening.
"I was able to navigate the system today and I won't disclose how or the nature of how; but confirmed the DOJ is tagging ALL DOCUMENTS Members of Congress search, open and review."
Not just Democrats.
Everyone.
Every document.
With timestamps.
Mace told NPR that "there is someone or two people from the DOJ monitoring you as you sit on those computers."
Lawmakers get their "own identification" when DOJ staff log them into the system.
The DOJ knows exactly who searched what, when they searched it, and how long they spent looking at it.
The Burn Book That Proved It
The photographic evidence came during Wednesday's House Judiciary Committee hearing.
Attorney General Pam Bondi sat at the witness table flipping through a binder.
https://twitter.com/kentnish/status/2021702705387843711/photo/1
Photographers caught a document titled "Jayapal Pramila Search History."
It listed every Epstein file the Democrat congresswoman had searched when she visited DOJ headquarters.
The exact files.
In the exact order.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal confirmed it matched her search history perfectly.
"Bondi showed up today with a burn book that held a printed search history of exactly what emails I searched," Jayapal wrote after seeing the photos.
She accused Bondi of using the surveillance to prepare counterattacks before the hearing.
But it was Mace – a Republican pushing for full Epstein transparency – who confirmed the system monitors everyone, not just Democrats.
Even Mike Johnson Says Stop
The Speaker initially dismissed the allegations as "unsubstantiated."
Then Jayapal called him personally and confirmed the printed search history was real.
Johnson changed his tune fast.
"I think members should obviously have the right to peruse those at their own speed and with their own discretion, and I don't think it's appropriate for anybody to be tracking them," Johnson said Thursday.
"I will echo that to anybody involved in the DOJ."
When Mike Johnson – Trump's most loyal ally in Congress – is publicly rebuking the Trump DOJ, you know something went wrong.
Rep. Thomas Massie, another Republican who reviewed the files, said the most "charitable" explanation is DOJ wanted to help members find frequently searched documents.
But that explanation falls apart when Bondi shows up to hearings with printed lists and "flash cards with insults" to embarrass members based on what they were looking at.
The Jack Smith Precedent
House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan thinks this is no big deal.
His reasoning?
Jack Smith secretly subpoenaed phone records from eight Republican senators during the Arctic Frost investigation.
The Biden FBI obtained phone metadata for Senators Lindsey Graham, Josh Hawley, Marsha Blackburn, Bill Hagerty, Tommy Tuberville, Ron Johnson, Cynthia Lummis, and Dan Sullivan.
They tracked who they called, when they called, how long the calls lasted, and where they were physically located.
All as part of Smith's January 6 case against Trump.
Smith's team was warned it might violate the Speech or Debate Clause of the Constitution.
They got gag orders from a federal judge and did it anyway.
"For people to raise this in light of what we've seen from Jack Smith and the Arctic Frost investigation is pretty rich," Jordan told reporters.
But two wrongs don't make a right.
Republicans spent months screaming about Smith violating separation of powers.
Now Bondi's doing the exact same thing and Jordan's suddenly fine with it because Democrats are complaining.
Even Republicans like Mace and Massie who want full transparency on Epstein are alarmed.
The DOJ's Excuse Doesn't Hold Water
A DOJ spokesperson claimed they log searches "to protect against the release of victim information."
That might sound reasonable until you think about it for five seconds.
If the goal is protecting victims, why print out the search histories and bring them to congressional hearings?
Why not just monitor in real-time and stop any attempted releases?
Why compile lists of what each member searched and put them in Bondi's binder so she can prepare counterattacks?
That's not about protecting victims.
That's about controlling oversight.
Bondi brought those lists to use against members asking tough questions about why the files are still heavily redacted and why no one's been prosecuted.
https://twitter.com/Skelly4Liberty/status/2021661103441514576
The Pattern With Bondi
Bondi brought fake binders to a photo op suggesting swearing she had mountains of evidence.
We now know she did but the binders were props.
She admitted on hidden camera there were "thousands of videos" of abused children in the files.
Months passed and she has still failed to bring even a single case involving potential criminal behavior related to Epstein.
Now she's monitoring what members of Congress look at.
Is that a threat?
Republicans like Mace and Massie – who desperately want the full truth on Epstein – are sounding the alarm about DOJ surveillance of congressional oversight.
What This Really Means
When the executive branch monitors what the legislative branch is investigating, that's not transparency.
That's intimidation.
Congress is supposed to provide oversight of the Justice Department.
How can they do that if the DOJ tracks every document they examine.
Every member of Congress now knows that if they review Epstein files at DOJ headquarters, the Attorney General will have a printed list of what they looked at.
But Bondi’s embarrassing performance in this latest hearing suggests the tracking isn’t about preparing counterattacks. Because how could anyone perform that horrifically if it was?
The only logical conclusion is it’s meant to have a chilling effect on revealing anything that Bondi and her cohorts have determined should still be kept secret.
And that is exactly why Trump needs to fire Bondi asap. FULL STOP!
Sources:
- M Dowling, "Big Brother Bondi's Tracking Congress," Independent Sentinel, February 13, 2026.
- Stef W. Kight and Andrew Solender, "Congress erupts over Trump admin 'spying' on Epstein searches," Axios, February 12, 2026.
- Kevin Breuninger, "Epstein files: DOJ says it logs Congress members' searches to 'protect' victim information," CNBC, February 12, 2026.
- Emily Brooks and Aris Folley, "Lawmakers express outrage as DOJ accused of 'spying' on Epstein file searches," The Hill, February 12, 2026.
- Zachary Cohen and Annie Grayer, "House speaker condemns Trump Justice Department monitoring of lawmakers' Epstein document review," CNN Politics, February 12, 2026.
- Julia Shapero, "Members of Congress demand DOJ stop tracking lawmakers' Epstein files searches," NBC News, February 13, 2026.
- Chuck Grassley, "Biden FBI Spied on Eight Republican Senators as Part of Arctic Frost Investigation," Senate Judiciary Committee, October 6, 2025.
