‘We Need An Investigation’: Jayapal Says She Confronted Mike Johnson Over DOJ Surveilling Her Epstein Searches
Jennifer Bowers Bahney
Thu, February 12, 2026 at 4:15 PM UTC
2 min read
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- Rep. Pramila Jayapal confronted House Speaker Mike Johnson over Department of Justice surveillance of her searches of the Epstein files.
- A Getty photographer captured an image in Attorney General Pam Bondi’s file pointing to Jayapal’s search history on Epstein.
- Jayapal demanded an end to surveillance of members of Congress accessing unredacted files and called for an investigation into the DOJ’s actions.
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Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) spoke to MS NOW Thursday about what appeared to be Department of Justice surveillance of the congresswoman’s searches of the Epstein files.
On Monday, House members took turns accessing four Department of Justice computers to search the unredacted files for the names of powerful men with ties to Epstein. During Attorney General Pam Bondi’s hearing before Congress Wednesday, a Getty photographer captured an image in Bondi’s file pointing to Jayapal’s search history on Epstein.
“The top of the page we can see is titled, ‘Jayapal, Pramila search history,’ and appears to show multiple search items related to the Epstein files,” MS NOW’s Ana Cabrera recounted before playing House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) reaction to the photo:
REPORTER: Attorney General Pam Bondi testified, and she had a piece of paper that had Jaypal’s search history in her binder, of the Epstein files.
JOHNSON: I don’t know anything about that, and I’m not commenting on it. I haven’t seen or heard anything about that. But that would be inappropriate if it happened.
Jayapal confirmed that she spoke to the speaker about the situation.
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“I can’t share what we talked about, but I made it very clear that this existed, this document existed,” Jayapal said.
She continued, “This idea that the DOJ is spying on members of Congress, using our search history as part of her burn book — that was the binder full of oppo research on every single one of us as members of Congress — is absolutely unacceptable. It’s a violation of the separation of powers. And I told Mike that, and I’m not going to reveal what he said, but I am going to say that we are demanding an end to that surveillance and a new process where we are assured that the Department of Justice is not spying on any member, Republican or Democrat, that goes into that room to search those files. That is our legitimate lawmaking responsibility, and we should not be surveilled and have that information try to be used against us in these hearings.”
Jayapal added, “We need an investigation. What information do they collect? Why were they collecting it? How were they going to use it? Why was it in her binder? These are all questions that the American people deserve to have answered.”
Watch the clip above via MS NOW.
The post ‘We Need An Investigation’: Jayapal Says She Confronted Mike Johnson Over DOJ Surveilling Her Epstein Searches first appeared on Mediaite.