The Daily Populous Thursday February 12nd, 2026 day edition
Authored by cbsnews.com and submitted by Zeebaeatah

A high-profile House Democrat is accusing Attorney General Pam Bondi of "spying" on her search history while she pored through Jeffrey Epstein-related documents, after Bondi was seen at a combative congressional hearing Wednesday with what appeared to be a list of the lawmaker's searches.

One of the printouts that Bondi referenced during the hearing was a list labeled "Jayapal Pramila Search History," referring to Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington. The document listed out at least eight different files from the Justice Department's trove of Epstein records, including their file numbers and brief descriptions of their contents, according to images snapped by photojournalists who covered the hearing.

Attorney General Pam Bondi holds a piece of paper labeled "Jayapal Pramila Search History" during the House Judiciary Committee's hearing Wednesday. Kent Nishimura / REUTERS

It's not entirely clear how the list was compiled, but since Monday, the Justice Department has allowed several members of Congress to visit its offices and search through a database of unredacted Epstein files. In recent weeks, the department has made millions of records on the late sex offender public, but with redactions to take out survivors' names and other information, drawing criticism from some lawmakers who argue the redactions were excessive.

Jayapal said in a statement to CBS News on Wednesday: "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," said the Democrat, who previously chaired the Congressional Progressive Caucus. "That is outrageous and I intend to pursue this and stop this spying on members."

Jayapal's office said she is organizing a letter seeking to investigate what she alleges is improper surveillance of lawmakers who reviewed the Epstein files.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, said in a statement Wednesday he will ask the Justice Department's Inspector General to investigate what he called an "outrageous abuse of power."

"This is just getting Orwellian with these people," Raskin told reporters, adding: "They better cut it out immediately, now that they've been caught."

CBS News has reached out to the Justice Department for comment.

Jayapal was among the Democrats who sparred with Bondi during an hourslong and often pugilistic House Judiciary Committee hearing that focused largely on the Justice Department's handling of the Epstein files.

At one point, Jayapal pressed Bondi on two of the documents that appeared on the attorney general's "search history" list, pointing to them as examples of mistakes during the Justice Department's redaction process.

One of the files was an email exchange between Epstein and a high-profile Emirati sultan whose email address is blacked out, drawing criticism from lawmakers. The other file — which has been removed from the Justice Department's public database — was an email with the subject line "Epstein victim list" that named dozens of people with few redactions.

Jayapal asked Bondi to apologize to Epstein survivors for failing to shield their personal information. She also asked survivors who attended the hearing to raise their hands if they had not yet met with the Justice Department.

Bondi responded by criticizing Biden-era Attorney General Merrick Garland over his handling of the Epstein matter, and said: "I'm not going to get in the gutter for her theatrics."

Jayapal is not the only congressional Democrat to raise questions about the system set up by the Justice Department for lawmakers to search through the Epstein files.

Rep. Suhas Subramanyam of Virginia said earlier Wednesday that the department "set up four computers in a really tiny room" and created "a unique log-in and password for each one of us." He also said lawmakers weren't allowed to bring phones into the room and were only allowed to take written notes in a standalone notepad.

"They were trying to make it as hard as possible for us to connect dots," Subramanyan told streaming host Aaron Parnas.

KeepCalmCarryOnKY on February 12nd, 2026 at 01:46 UTC »

This is total normal behavior of a transparent admin. "I'll let you have access to the files and track your every movement".

TintedApostle on February 12nd, 2026 at 01:38 UTC »

So Bondi violated Congressional Secrecy with the Executive Branch spying on the Legislative Branch.... wait didn't republicans complain about Biden doing this due to 1/6 connections?

ranchoparksteve on February 12nd, 2026 at 01:37 UTC »

She seemed to have nothing worthwhile to talk about. I suppose her staff know she’s a completely empty vessel and created these binders.