Thursday, February 12, 2026

Mike Johnson issues a warning to Pam Bondi

House Speaker Mike Johnson has largely served as a facilitator for President Donald Trump's administration. 

His frequent response that he has not seen the latest Trump controversy has become source material for late-night comics. 

But on Thursday, when Inside Washington asked him about Attorney General reports that the Justice Department is tracking the search histories of members of Congress going through unredacted files related to Jeffrey Epstein. 

“I've heard the allegations I'm looking into that myself,” Johnson told The Independent on Thursday. “It would obviously be an important line that's crossed, and obviously we can't allow for that.”

It's not a full-throated denunciation. But it's not nothing from the speaker, who tends to accommodate the president at every turn.

But Bondi might have stepped on a political rake during her testimony before the House Judiciary Committee. During the hearing, a photographer captured a page out of her briefing binder that appeared to show a document detailing the files that Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington had searched on a DOJ computer.

No issue has caused Johnson more heartburn than the Epstein affair. He famously sent the House out for August recess a day early to avoid dealing with rumblings in the House about the late convicted sex offender.

It famously took a discharge petition led by Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), with the help of Marjorie Taylor Greene, to force a vote on releasing the files. Johnson initially opposed it until Trump gave his blessing.

Then Greene shocked many when she said she would resign, leaving Johnson one vote short in an already small majority. 

But encroaching on members' ability to do their due diligence and conduct investigations, especially on files it mandated the executive branch release, might be too much even for Johnson. 

Read more here:

By Eric Garcia

Reading list

Daily briefing

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QUOTE OF THE DAY

If ICE come in here, we’re gonna jump their asses.

Cardi B during a concert. 

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