Mike Johnson rebukes DOJ tracking of lawmakers' Epstein files searches, calls it 'not appropriate'

WASHINGTON, DC: House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La) said on Thursday, February 12, that it was “not appropriate” for the Department of Justice (DOJ) to track members of Congress as they reviewed unredacted files related to Jeffrey Epstein.

His comments came amid bipartisan criticism after reports that the DOJ had logged lawmakers’ search activity during in-person reviews of the records.

The issue surfaced during Attorney General Pam Bondi’s testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, where a photographed binder appeared to show a lawmaker’s search history.

Several members have since demanded that the department stop monitoring their activity.

Mike Johnson questions the DOJ's logging of Epstein file searches

Johnson said that members should be allowed to examine the Epstein files without being monitored.

“My understanding is that there are computers set up where the DOJ was allowing access to the files. And I think members should obviously have the right to peruse those at their own speed and with their own discretion,” Johnson said.

“I don’t think it’s appropriate for anybody to be tracking that,” he added. “So, I will echo that to anybody involved with the DOJ. And I’m sure it was an oversight. That’s my guess, OK?”

The Justice Department began allowing lawmakers this week to review unredacted Epstein files in person at DOJ offices using department computers.

In a letter obtained by NBC News, the department stated that it would “keep a log of the dates and times of all members’ reviews.”

The controversy sparked after a Reuters photograph captured Bondi holding a document labeled “Jayapal Pramila Search History” during a House Judiciary Committee hearing.

The document listed items that Rep Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash) confirmed she had searched while reviewing the files.

Jayapal later said on social media that it was “totally inappropriate and against the separations of powers for the DOJ to surveil us as we search the Epstein files.”

She added, “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.” 

Bipartisan lawmakers condemn DOJ monitoring

Criticism of the DOJ’s monitoring has come from both Democrats and Republicans.

Rep Jamie Raskin (D-Md) criticized the monitoring, calling it “an outrage,” and said that the DOJ was tracking “Members’ investigative steps undertaken to ensure that DOJ was complying with the Epstein File Transparency Act” for the attorney general’s “embarrassing polemical purposes.”

Raskin said that he would ask the Justice Department’s inspector general “to open an inquiry into this outrageous abuse of power” and demanded that the department “immediately cease tracking any Members’ searches.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) described the monitoring as “a disgrace,” adding that it “does violate the principles of separate and coequal branches of government.”

Republican Rep Nancy Mace of South Carolina also criticized the process. In a social media post, she wrote that the “DOJ is tracking the Epstein documents Members of Congress search for, open, and review.” 

Rep Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla) called it “suspicious” that lawmakers were required to log into DOJ computers with individual credentials. “We should have been informed of that,” he said. “If that was going to be the case, to do it secretly is problematic.”