Nancy Mace Joins Dems to Denounce ‘Creepy’ DOJ Monitoring of Congress Members’ Epstein Files Searches

 
Nancy Mace

AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) denounced the Justice Department on Wednesday for allegedly tracking the unredacted ‘Epstein files’ that members of Congress accessed, calling the practice “creepy.”

Mace, in an audio clip posted progressive outlet MeidasTouch, spoke about the alleged tracking — which became the topic of public scrutiny after Attorney General Pam Bondi’s bombshell hearing in Congress earlier on Wednesday.

Getty photographer Roberto Schmidt captured a picture of Bondi’s notes, which included a document titled “Jayapal Pramila Search History.” The document, referring to Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), included a list of file names pertaining to documents surrounding convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. 

“What do you make of the DOJ monitoring the search history as you go through the Epstein files?” Prem Thakker, a reporter for the progressive outlet Zeteo News, asked Mace.

“It’s creepy,” said Mace. “I’m pretty tech savvy. I’ve played around with the system. They’re tracking every file that we open, and when we open it. They’re tracking everything.”

The congresswoman claimed she could see that she was being tracked in the system because she knew “where to look,” but refrained from elaborating further.

“I don’t want to say because I don’t want them to hide it,” she said when pressed on the issue.

Mace joined two of her Democratic colleagues who also condemned the alleged monitoring.

Rep. Jayapal called out Bondi after learning about the photo, telling MS NOW’s Ali Vitali the measure made her question the DOJ’s motives in allowing Congress to read the unredacted files.

“It’s totally inappropriate,” she said. “Is this is whole reason they opened [the files] up to us two days early? So they could essentially surveil members to see what we were gonna ask her about?”

Jayapal went on to directly call the action “spying on members of Congress” in an additional clip posted by MeidasTouch.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) dually decried the alleged tracking, calling it “Orwellian” and claiming it would violate essential checks and balances.

“It is a violation of the separation of powers for them to essentially be monitoring our computer searches on the Epstein files,” he said. “I think it’s outrageous that they would do that! It’s Orwellian! And we’re going to have some more to say about it soon.”

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