WASHINGTON — Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., slammed the Justice Department and Attorney General Pam Bondi for tracking the search history of lawmakers who reviewed files from the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, arguing the agency overstepped its authority and suggesting she will seek changes.

Photographs of Bondi’s notes during a congressional hearing on Wednesday — notes that depicted some of Jayapal’s searches — revealed the Justice Department is recording which documents lawmakers are reviewing in the cache of unredacted Epstein files held by the agency. The incident alarmed lawmakers across the aisle.

Justice Department spokesperson Natalie Baldassarre said Thursday in a statement that the agency “logs all searches made on its systems to protect against the release of victim information.”

The agency declined to answer whether lawmakers were notified that their searches would be tracked, and did not respond to criticism that the practice is an overreach by the agency. According to Jayapal’s office, the Justice Department did not notify the congresswoman that her searches would be logged.

“Members of Congress have the absolute right to search these files without being spied on by the Department of Justice,” Jayapal told The Seattle Times in a Thursday statement, adding that “logging searches and surveilling members’ search history … is absolutely unacceptable.”

Bondi appeared before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday amid fiery criticism that she botched the release of the Epstein files. A photo captured by Reuters on Wednesday evening shows the attorney general holding a sheet of paper titled “Jayapal Pramila Search History,” which lists at least eight searches. The Justice Department statement did not explain why Bondi brought details about lawmakers’ searches to the House hearing.

Jayapal confirmed that the photographed document accurately listed her search history.

“Bondi showed up today with a burn book that held a printed search history of exactly what emails I searched,” Jayapal said on social media Wednesday.

“It is totally inappropriate and against the separations of powers for the DOJ to surveil us as we search the Epstein files,” she said. “That is outrageous and I intend to pursue this and stop this spying on members.”

Many Democrats were outraged. Some Republicans have expressed concern as well; Speaker Mike Johnson — a close ally of the administration — told CNN that the agency’s actions are inappropriate.

Jayapal was among Democratic House members who shared blistering condemnations of Bondi during the congressional hearing on Wednesday. At one point during the hourslong hearing, Jayapal asked Bondi to apologize to victims present in the audience. Bondi deflected and said she would not engage in Jayapal’s “theatrics.”

Jayapal visited the Justice Department earlier this week to review unredacted Epstein files, afterward criticizing how the agency has handled the information. She is among a bipartisan group of lawmakers who have reviewed the files at the agency in recent days.

“These are supposed to be completely unredacted, but they weren’t,” Jayapal said in a video posted to social media after her visit. “They redacted the names of these powerful, rich men.”

Meanwhile, many victims’ names were revealed, Jayapal said. “It struck me as I was reviewing this, just the horror of the whole thing, the depravity of it.”

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