'Paranoia?' Dem reveals lengths DOJ going to 'stay ahead' of congressional Epstein probe

A Democratic lawmaker confirmed the Department of Justice is essentially peering over lawmakers' shoulders as they search through the unredacted Jeffrey Epstein files.

Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA) appeared Thursday on "CNN This Morning," where she discussed the previous day's contentious hearing with Attorney General Pam Bondi and the binder she brought with her that showed the search history for lawmakers who pored through the Justice Department's case files on the late sex offender.

"So I believe that they're surveilling all of us," Kamlager-Dove said. "They want to know what kinds of questions we have. The reality is the American people are concerned about this callous and reckless release of the Epstein files, which has also been incomplete."

"I'm going there today, I am sure they're going to be watching what I'm searching," the congresswoman added. "When you log in, you go in, you go to a computer, you have to log in. You have to put in your information as a congressperson, and there are DOJ staff there in the room. So we know we're being watched, but we are trying to find the files that the American people are saying, how come this was redacted? How come this wasn't? Why are you covering up names of pedophiles and predators and then releasing the names of young survivors?"

Host Audie Cornish asked what was the significance of the Trump administration's interest in their search history.

"Do you think this is indicative of the administration's paranoia surrounding the Epstein files?" Cornish asked. "I mean, they spent so much money, so many hours trying to get [President Donald] Trump scrubbed out of them, trying to get his friends scrubbed out of them. Now you're getting to see them unredacted. Do you think they're tracking you so they can try to stay ahead of like, oh, she saw about this person, she saw about that person, to kind of you know, deal with that."

Kamlager-Dove agreed, and she said the president's position on the investigative files about his former friend had changed dramatically since he won re-election.

"I mean, this man ran on a platform of, you know, releasing the entire Epstein files," she said. "He gets into office, he doesn't want to talk about it at all. You know, he's in the files, he's not in the files, he knew Epstein, he didn't know Epstein, right? All of the numbers are inconsistent with regards to how many times he's in the files or not."

"Isn't it interesting that they have allowed congresspeople to go to read and look at the files two days before the woman was supposed to show up at our committee, because she knew we were going to ask about the Epstein files? Kamlager-Dove added. "So I do think they're trying to play catch-up with the American people, but they're not sharing the truth with the American people."

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