发言人迈克·约翰逊周四对司法部跟踪立法者对未经编辑的杰弗里·爱泼斯坦文件的搜索历史表示担忧，尽管他质疑这种监控是故意的还是错误的——尽管这些数据是为周三众议院司法听证会上司法部长的研究活页夹汇编的。
“我认为任何人追踪这件事都不合适。因此，我将把这一点传达给DOJ的每一个人。我敢肯定这是一个疏忽，这是我的猜测，好吗?”约翰逊说。
周三，民主党众议员普拉米拉·贾亚帕尔指控司法部长帕姆·邦迪“窥探”她的搜索历史当这位国会女议员本周早些时候拜访司法部查看未被编辑的性犯罪者杰弗里·爱泼斯坦的档案。从周一开始，议员们被允许访问DOJ，查看四个电脑亭上未经编辑的文件。
来自路透社的照片众议院司法委员会听证会邦迪周三出现在那里，展示了题为“贾亚帕尔·普拉米拉搜索历史”的打印输出，包括贾亚帕尔搜索的DOJ爱泼斯坦文件中的几份文件的图表。
司法部周四下午表示，在审查未经编辑的爱普斯坦文件期间，“DOJ记录了在其系统上进行的所有搜索，以防止受害者信息被泄露。”DOJ没有解释为什么邦迪会有贾亚帕尔搜索记录的打印件。
约翰逊在周三晚上与这位女议员的电话中收到了贾亚帕尔对这一事件的描述，他补充说，议员应该“有权”以“自己的速度和自己的判断力”查看文件。
共和党众议员南希·梅斯(Nancy Mace)也表示，她认为DOJ在跟踪她，因为她对未经编辑的文件进行了审查。
在过道对面，众议院少数党领袖哈基姆·杰弗里斯(Hakeem Jeffries)表示，他对DOJ追踪他们的搜索历史并不感到惊讶，“因为门槛太低了。”
“特朗普政府、帕姆·邦迪以及这个腐败政府中的其他马屁精都没有底，”杰弗里斯周四说。
民主党众议员贾里德·莫斯科维茨(Jared Moskowitz)表示，每位审查未经编辑的爱泼斯坦文件的议员都会收到一个特定的登录信息，以登录到一台计算机上查看文件，而不是开放使用的终端，莫斯科维茨称之为“可疑的”。
“我的意思是，我对我正在看的文件并不感到尴尬，所以我不知道这是一个大问题。但是不合适。我们应该被告知这一点，”莫斯科维茨说。
贾亚帕尔周四告诉记者，“需要一个全新的过程”，立法者可以放心，司法部“不会监视我们，保留我们的搜索历史，然后用它来对付我们。”
贾亚帕尔告诉美国广播公司新闻国会山记者杰伊·奥布赖恩:“监视我们，监视我们，然后用它来对付我们，这是绝对不可接受的，所以这个过程必须立即改变。”“他们不能保存我们的搜索历史。他们不能监视我们，这就是我们所要求的。”
贾亚帕尔说，“需要问责”，并补充说民主党人“正在考虑所有的选择。”
民主党众议员杰米·拉斯金(Jamie Raskin)是周三领导邦迪听证会的委员会的资深民主党人，他在一份声明中说，他计划要求DOJ监察长对此事展开调查。
贾亚帕尔说，她欢迎共和党在这一过程中的合作。
“我认为有几个共和党人不喜欢这样。他们去的时候也受到了监视，所以我希望这能成为两党的共同努力，来表明这是绝对不合适的。它必须停止，”她说。
但主持周三听证会的主席、共和党众议员吉姆·乔丹(Jim Jordan)对DOJ监控议员搜索历史的担忧不以为然。
“我是说得了吧，这挺有钱的。在DOJ对杰克·史密斯治下的共和党国会议员做了那些事情之后，听到抱怨是很丰富的，”乔丹说，他指的是《北极霜冻》(Arctic Frost)，其中记录了几名共和党人的电话记录。
乔丹坚称，DOJ掌握了他两年半的电话记录，以及前众议院议长凯文·麦卡锡的电话记录。
“他们知道投票前发言人给谁打电话，投票后他给谁打电话，电话什么时候打，打了多长时间，他在哪里，”乔丹说。“现在他们提出这个问题?喜欢，好吧。”
贾亚帕尔敦促共和党人“在这一点上保持一致。”
“我和其他几个同事一起工作过，包括乔丹主席，在[外国情报监视法案]和监视方面。这是一个最好的例子，”她说。
Speaker Johnson calls DOJ surveillance of members reviewing unredacted Epstein files not 'appropriate'
Speaker Mike Johnson on Thursday expressed concerns with the Department of Justice’s tracking of lawmakers' search history of the unredacted Jeffrey Epstein files, though he questioned whether the surveillance was intentional or a mistake -- even though the data was compiled for the attorney general’s research binder at Wednesday’s House Judiciary hearing.
"I don’t think it’s appropriate for anybody to be tracking that. So, I will echo that to anyone in the DOJ. And I am sure it was an oversight, that’s my guess, OK?” Johnson said.
On Wednesday, Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapalaccused Attorney General Pam Bondi of "spying" on her search historywhen the congresswoman visited the Department of Justice earlier this week toview unredacted files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Since Monday, lawmakers have been allowed to visit the DOJ to review the unredacted files on four computer kiosks.
Photos from Reuters from aHouse Judiciary Committee hearingat which Bondi appeared on Wednesday show printouts titled: "Jayapal Pramila Search History" and include a diagram of several documents from the DOJ's Epstein files that Jayapal searched.
The Justice Department on Thursday afternoon said that during the review of the unredacted Epstein files, "DOJ logs all searches made on its systems to protect against the release of victim information." The DOJ did not offer any explanation for why Bondi had a printout of Jayapal's search history.
Johnson, who received Jayapal’s account of the episode in a phone call with the congresswoman Wednesday evening, added that members should "have the right” to view files at "their own speed and with their own discretion."
Republican Rep. Nancy Mace also said she believed the DOJ was tracking her as she conducted her review of the unredacted documents.
Across the aisle, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said he was not surprised that the DOJ tracked their search history “because the bar is so low.”
“There is no bottom for the Trump administration, for Pam Bondi, for the other sycophants who are part of this corrupt administration,”Jeffries said on Thursday.
Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz said each lawmaker who reviews the unredacted Epstein files receives a specific login to sign on to a computer to see the documents -- instead of terminals that are open to use, which Moscowitz called "suspicious."
"I mean, I'm not embarrassed that the documents I was looking at, so I don't know that it's a big gotcha. But it's inappropriate.We should have been informed of that," Moskowitz said.
Jayapal told reporters on Thursday that there "needs to be a whole new process" where lawmakers are assured that the Department of Justice "is not spying on us and keeping our search histories and then using it against us."
"Surveilling us and spying on us and then using it in a 'burn book' binder against us, is absolutely unacceptable, and so the process has to change right away," Jayapal told ABC News Capitol Hill Correspondent Jay O'Brien. "They cannot save our search histories. They cannot spy on us, and that's what we're demanding."
Jayapal said there "needs to be accountability," adding Democrats are "looking at all the options for that.”
Rep. Jamie Raskin, the ranking Democrat on the committee leading the Bondi hearing Wednesday, said in a statement that he plans to ask the DOJ's inspector general to launch an inquiry into the matter.
Jayapal said she would welcome Republican collaboration in the process.
“I think that there are several Republicans that don't like this. They were also spied on when they went and so I hope that this can be a bipartisan effort to say this is absolutely inappropriate. It has to stop,” she said.
But the chairman who presided over Wednesday’s hearing, Republican Rep. Jim Jordan, brushed off concerns that the DOJ monitored lawmakers' search history.
“I mean come on, it’s pretty rich. It's pretty rich to hear the complaints after, after what the DOJ has done to Republican members of Congress under Jack Smith,” Jordan said, referencing "Arctic Frost," which captured phone logs of several Republicans.
Jordan contended that the DOJ had his phone records for two and a half years, as well as former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy.
“They knew who the speaker was calling before votes, who he was calling after votes, when the call happened, how long it lasted, where he was at,” Jordan said. “And now they are raising this issue? Like, OK.”
Jayapal urged Republicans to “be consistent about this.”
“I've worked with several colleagues across the aisle, including Chairman Jordan, on [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] and surveillance. This is a prime example of that,”she said.
