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Trump cannot end deportation protections for South Sudanese nationals, US judge rules

February 12, 2026 7:22 PM UTC / Reuters

BOSTON, Feb 12 (Reuters) – A federal judge on Thursday blocked U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration from ending temporary protections from deportation that had allowed hundreds of South Sudanese nationals to live and work in the United States.

U.S. District Judge Patti Saris in Boston concluded that U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had likely acted unlawfully by providing a “pretextual” reason for terminating South Sudan’s Temporary Protected Status designation and not disclosing the real factor motivating her action.

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That status is available to people whose home countries have experienced natural disasters, armed conflicts or other extraordinary events. It provides eligible migrants with work authorization and temporary protection from deportation.

Noem in November published a notice terminating TPS for conflict-ridden South Sudan, saying the country no longer met the conditions for the designation, which was first issued in 2011.

Saris said that notice failed to acknowledge the “real reason” for Noem’s action, which was that she had adopted a “preordained pattern and practice” of terminating TPS designations for all countries.

Saris, who was appointed by Democratic President Bill Clinton, noted that since Noem took office, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has moved to end TPS designations for 11 other countries, including Haiti, Venezuela and Ethiopia.

“It is highly likely that no country will pass muster, no matter how dire its conditions,” Saris said.

The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment.

The ruling came in a lawsuit by a group of South Sudanese nationals and the non-profit African Communities Together. Another judge earlier in the case had delayed the end of TPS for South Sudan to provide time for Saris to hear the case.

Conflict has ravaged South Sudan since it won independence from Sudan in 2011. Fighting has persisted in much of the country since a five-year-long civil war that killed an estimated 400,000 people ended in 2018. The U.S. State Department advises citizens not to travel there.

About 232 South Sudanese nationals have been beneficiaries of TPS and have found refuge in the United States, and another 73 have pending applications, according to the lawsuit.

Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Bill Berkrot

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

A federal judge on Thursday ruled the Pentagon cannot punish Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., a retired Navy pilot, for taking part in a video that called on U.S. military members to defy “illegal orders.”

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, appointed by former President George W. Bush, found the Pentagon violated Kelly’s First Amendment right to free speech and those of “millions of military retirees” by censuring him Jan. 5.

Leon’s ruling blocks the Pentagon from demoting Kelly’s retired military rank of captain or reducing his pay during an ongoing lawsuit he brought against War Secretary Pete Hegsesth, the Department of War, the U.S. Navy and Navy Secretary John Phelan.

Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., speaks to members of the media outside federal court in Washington, D.C.(Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

[STEPHEN A SMITH GETS INTO SLUGFEST ON ‘THE VIEW’ OVER SEN KELLY’S VIDEO URGING TROOPS TO IGNORE ILLEGAL ORDERS]

After the judge’s decision, Hegseth took to X saying the administration will appeal.

“This will be immediately appealed,” he wrote in the post. “Sedition is sedition, ‘Captain.’”

His response echoed that of President Donald Trump, who previously accused the group of “sedition at the highest level,” further suggesting they should be executed.

The 90-second video, first posted by Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., also featured military veteran Reps. Jason Crow of Colorado, Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania, Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire and Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania.

After the ruling, Kelly said the case sends a message to millions of retired veterans.(Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

[MORE DEMOCRAT REPS INVOLVED IN ‘REFUSE ILLEGAL ORDERS’ VIDEO REPORT RECEIVING INQUIRY FROM US ATTORNEY]

Hegseth said an investigation was launched into Kelly’s actions because he was the only lawmaker formally retired from the military and under the Pentagon’s jurisdiction.

In his ruling, Leon said Kelly is “likely to succeed” in his free speech argument and has shown irreparable harm.

“Rather than trying to shrink the [First Amendment liberties] of retired servicemembers, Secretary Hegseth and his fellow Defendants might reflect and be grateful for the wisdom and expertise that retired servicemembers have brought to public discussions and debate on military matters in our Nation over the past 250 years,” Leon wrote.

“To say the least, our retired veterans deserve more respect from their Government, and our Constitution demands they receive it!”

War Secretary Pete Hegseth is named in the lawsuit along with other defendants.(Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP)

[MARK KELLY AVOIDS SAYING ARRESTING MADURO, VENEZUELA STRIKES WERE ‘ILLEGAL’]

After the decision, Kelly said the case was sending a message to millions of retired veterans that “they too can be censured or demoted just for speaking out.”

“This might not be over yet because [this president and this administration] do not know how to admit when they’re wrong,” he added.

[CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP]

A grand jury in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday refused the Department of Justice’s attempt to indict the group of lawmakers.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Lawmakers are jetting from Washington, D.C., without a deal to prevent a partial government shutdown.

Their departure comes after the Senate was unable to send a full-year funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to President Donald Trump’s desk.

Senate Democrats doubled down on their demands for stringent reforms to immigration enforcement and bucked multiple attempts Thursday to keep the agency open.

DHS FUNDING BILL FAILS AFTER SCHUMER REJECTS TRUMP’S ICE REFORM OFFER

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Senate Democrats blocked an attempt to fund DHS for a full year, ramping up the likelihood of another partial government shutdown.(Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

With both chambers now on their way to a weeklong recess, the agency is expected to shutter at midnight Friday. Unless a deal is struck before lawmakers return, DHS will be shut down for at least that period of time.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., made the call to send lawmakers home and noted that if negotiations made a breakthrough, they would be on 24-hour notice to return. But talks, for now, are somewhere between baby steps and stuck.

“What it appears to me, at least at this point, is happening is the Democrats, like they did last fall, they really don’t want the solution,” Thune said. “They don’t want the answer. They want the political issue.”

SCHUMER, DEMS CHOOSE PARTIAL SHUTDOWN AS NEGOTIATIONS HIT IMPASSE

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., failed to splinter Senate Democrats from their unified front in his bid to fund DHS for a full year.(Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and his caucus blocked an attempt to pass the original DHS funding bill and a subsequent two-week funding extension.

Their resistance comes after the White House unveiled the legislative text of the administration’s counteroffer, which several Senate Democrats balked at Thursday morning.

“The administration doesn’t actually want to reform ICE,” Schumer said. “They never do it on their own. That is why we need — we are fighting for — legislation to rein in ICE and stop the violence.”

Senate Democrats have demanded a stringent list of reforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). They weren’t persuaded by border czar Tom Homan that operations in Minneapolis would be drawn down as negotiations continue.

It was a déjà vu moment from months earlier, when Thune repeatedly tried to peel Democrats away from Schumer during the longest government shutdown in U.S. history but failed to break their blockade.

SHUTDOWN CLOCK TICKS AS SCHUMER, DEMOCRATS DIG IN ON DHS FUNDING DEMANDS

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters and members of the media at Mar-a-Lago Feb. 1, 2026, in Palm Beach, Fla.(Al Drago/Getty Images)

While there was optimism that negotiations were moving in a positive direction earlier this week, those hopes appeared to have shattered.

“At this point, it seems clear that the Democrats are going to walk away from that bipartisan conversation,” a senior White House official said. “They’re going to shut the department down. They’re going to deprive Americans of critical services such as FEMA, such as TSA and what will be the third partial government shutdown of this Congress.”

Senate Democrats received the legislative version of Republicans and the White House’s counteroffer Wednesday night, but many said it was “not sufficient,” and several Democrats leaving a closed-door meeting Thursday morning said a deal remained out of reach.

Given the stagnation in talks, Thune opted to go ahead with the scheduled recess, but made clear to lawmakers that if there was a breakthrough they would need to return.

“Obviously, we’ve made it clear to people that they have to be available to come back and vote,” Thune said.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Talks of another counteroffer to the White House are in the works. Some Senate Democrats hope that the upcoming recess and likely closure of DHS will serve as a wake-up call to Republicans.

Complicating matters is that several members of the House and Senate are expected to travel to Germany for the annual Munich Security Conference.

“I still think the Republicans are in a bubble and do not understand the depth of the anger out there in the world,” Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, told Fox News Digital.

“And maybe this break will allow them to go home and get yelled at, not just by people who are progressive, but everybody who thinks that this agency is out of control and needs to be reined in.”

Alex Miller is a writer for Fox News Digital covering the U.S. Senate.

Trump administration moves to end

US Congress names press gallery for abolitionist Frederick Douglass

February 12, 2026 8:57 PM UTC / Reuters

WASHINGTON, Feb 12 (Reuters) – Leaders of the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday named its press gallery after Frederick Douglass, 150 years after the famed 19th-century orator and abolitionist became the first Black member of the congressional press corps.

Republican House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson unveiled a new sign reading “Frederick Douglass Press Gallery” over the door to rooms where reporters work. Johnson was flanked by a handful of guests and some lawmakers who had pushed to honor Douglass.

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节点运行失败

“Perhaps more successfully than any American of his time, Douglass built a life and legacy off the power of his pen, and his powerful voice, and he wielded that power to great effect in this institution,” Johnson said.

The ceremony took place on February 12, the birth date of President Abraham Lincoln, who signed the Emancipation Proclamation ending slavery in the United States, and two days before February 14, the date Douglass celebrated his birthday.

Douglass was born into slavery and his exact birth date is unknown.

Douglass escaped in 1838 and became known as an author, speaker and social reformer, including speaking tours in England, Ireland and Scotland. He was a member of the U.S. House and Senate press galleries from 1871 to 1875.

Political leaders often honor Douglass during February, which is Black History Month in the U.S.

The event on Thursday was unusual for the second presidential term of Donald Trump, a Republican who has pushed U.S. cultural and historical institutions to remove what he calls “anti-American” ideology.

The campaign has led to the dismantling of exhibits focusing on the legacy of slavery and the restoration of statues of Confederate leaders who fought against the United States in the Civil War that ended slavery.

However, Trump has praised Douglass before. In 2017, during his first term, Trump called Douglass “an example of somebody who’s done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more.”

Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Cynthia Osterman

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Gisèle Pelicot recounts her ex-husband’s “unthinkable” crimes in first U.S. TV interview since mass rape trial

February 12, 2026 / 4:36 PM EST / CBS News

Gisèle Pelicot, the French woman who became a global symbol of courage when she publicly stepped forward to testify against her ex-husband and dozens of other men in a mass rape trial, told “CBS Sunday Morning” that she believes her story “could be useful to others.”

That’s why she’s opening up about her story in a memoir, “A Hymn to Life: Shame Has to Change Sides.” She said she’s speaking directly to those who might ask, “How could this woman go through what she went through and still be standing?”

Gisele Pelicot. CBS News

In her first U.S. broadcast interview, airing on “CBS Sunday Morning” February 15, Pelicot told correspondent Seth Doane that she “used to be a very discreet woman.”

Pelicot waived her right to anonymity and insisted court proceedings be made public during the 4-month trial against her ex-husband, Dominique Pelicot, and 51 other men accused of raping her over the course of nearly a decade at his invitation. All the men were found guilty, and Dominique was sentenced to the maximum of 20 years.

In the memoir, Pelicot recounts the shock and horror of discovering that, for years, her then- husband had been drugging her and recruiting other men to assault her in their home.

“I never imagined that I was living with a man who was drugging his wife in his own home. It was impossible,” she told Doane.

Pelicot had suffered unexplained health problems, and looking back, she says there were other signs something was wrong, recalling several unsettling incidents when her drinks tasted strange — at times even undrinkable — “as if mint had been put in my glass.” She also recalls her husband preparing their potatoes separately. But she never imagined her husband was lacing them.

“How can you imagine that your husband is drugging you? It’s unthinkable — impossible. In fact, I was manipulated for about ten years. Because he was looking me in the eyes every day while knowing he was poisoning me. But I never saw that. I saw a kind, caring man,” she said.

Watch more of Seth Doane’s interview with Gisèle Pelicot this weekend on “CBS Sunday Morning.” Pelicot’s memoir, “A Hymn to Life,”will be published next week by Penguin Press.

Consumers and businesses paid nearly 90% of Trump tariffs in 2025, new analysis found

February 12, 2026 / 5:10 PM EST / CBS News

Almost all of President Trump’s tariffs last year were passed on to U.S. consumers and businesses in the form of higher costs, according to a new analysis from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

As the average U.S. tariff on imports jumped to 13% in 2025, up from less than 3%, “nearly 90% of the tariffs’ economic burden fell on U.S. firms and consumers,” the researchers wrote.

Who bears the burden of tariffs?

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The Trump administration maintains that foreign companies and other exporters pay the lion’s share of tariffs.

In a Jan. 30 Wall Street Journal op-ed defending his tariff agenda, for example, Mr. Trump said that “data shows that the burden, or ‘incidence,’ of the tariffs has fallen overwhelmingly on foreign producers and middlemen, including large corporations that are not from the U.S.”

“In many cases, nations that are heavily dependent on exports have had no choice but to ‘eat’ the tariffs to avoid even worse losses from their excess capacity,” he added.

The New York Fed’s findings, which align with those of most mainstream economists, challenge that view. For the eight-month period from January through August, U.S. importers bore 94% of tariff costs. By November, exporters were shouldering slightly more of the burden, but U.S. importers remained on the hook for 86% of tariffs, according to the analysis.

“In sum, U.S. firms and consumers continue to bear the bulk of the economic burden of the high tariffs imposed in 2025,” the report concluded.

Defending tariffs

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The White House on Thursday defended Mr. Trump’s tariffs, touting the economic gains.

“America’s average tariff rate has increased nearly sevenfold in the past year, yet inflation has cooled and corporate profits have increased,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai said in a statement to CBS News. “The reality is that President Trump’s economic agenda of tax cuts, deregulation, tariffs, and energy abundance [is] reducing costs and accelerating economic growth.”

Recent data point to solid economic growth. The nation’s gross domestic product expanded at a robust 4.3% annual pace in the third quarter, the strongest growth in two years.

The job market also remains healthy, with employers adding a stronger-than-expected 130,000 jobs in January, according to employment figures released earlier this week.

Tariffs could be struck down

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Economists predicted last year that elevated tariffs on imports were likely to drive up inflation. For the most part, those price hikes have failed to materialize.

In December, the Consumer Price Index rose at an annual rate of 2.7%, unchanged from November. The Department of Labor is scheduled to release the January CPI data on Friday.

The Treasury Department collected $287 billion in tariffs in 2025, up 192% from the previous year, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.

Yet President Trump’s scope to wield tariffs in future is uncertain, with the Supreme Court expected to rule soon on his authority to impose levies under a federal emergency powers law.

If those tariffs are struck down, the U.S. government could owe businesses as much as $168 billion in refunds, according to the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/how-trumps-foreign-policy-has-evolved/

Takeaways: Enforcement surge ending in Minneapolis as state and DHS officials face tough questions in Senate

By Michael Williams
49 min ago
PUBLISHED Feb 12, 2026, 5:17 PM ET

Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott prepares to leave following a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee oversight hearing on Thursday.

Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

While White House border czar Tom Homan announced Thursday morning the federal immigration surge in Minnesota would be ending, state officials were facing tough questions about the circumstances that led to that crackdown in the first place.

Those officials, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and the state’s corrections commissioner, Paul Schnell, in turn blasted the Trump administration for the way it has conducted itself in their state.

The testimony devolved into yelling matches between Ellison and two Republican senators who accused him of contributing to the violence in Minnesota and suggested he should be jailed over its expansive fraud scandal.

And later, top immigration officials in the Trump administration faced another round of questioning over last month’s killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good and the tactics of immigration officers working in their agencies.

Here are some takeaways from a busy day in Washington and Minneapolis as the deadline for the Department of Homeland Security’s funding draws closer:

Homan says monthslong surge is coming to a close

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White House border czar Tom Homan speaks at a press conference at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Thursday.

Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

Homan, whom the administration placed in charge of its operations in Minneapolis after Pretti was killed last month, said during a press conference on Thursday that the surge in Minneapolis that began in early December would soon be ending.

“I have proposed, and President Trump has concurred, that this surge operation conclude,” Homan said.

At its height, about 3,000 federal officers were deployed as part of Operation Metro Surge in what was the largest immigration enforcement operation in the country’s history. The surge has led to weeks of protests, tense confrontations between protesters and officers, the killings of Pretti and Good by officers and attempts from the administration to paint both as terrorists who wanted to harm law enforcement.

Homan said Thursday that a small footprint of officers would remain.

The announcement was welcomed by Democratic officials, including Gov. Tim Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and lawmakers both in Congress and the state legislature.

Walz said the surge did serious economic damage to the state and said he would seek repayment.

“The federal government needs to pay for what they broke here,” Walz said Thursday morning. “You don’t get to break things and then just leave without doing something about it.”

And while Homan was speaking in Minneapolis, top Minnesota officials testifying in Washington said the damage had already been done.

Ellison on the defensive

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Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison arrives to testify before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Thursday.

Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

Testifying in front of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Ellison said the surge had “caused real harm to our state.”

The Democratic attorney general asked that members of the committee exercise their oversight powers to compel several reforms within federal law enforcement, including requiring ICE provide full documentation of arrests and detentions conducted by its agents, allow oversight access into its detention facilities, and require that state and federal investigations into the deaths of Good and Pretti be conducted in tandem.

Ellison accused the government of inventing different pretexts to justify the surge, but said it wasn’t really about the fraud scandal that the administration cited before sending law enforcement to the Twin Cities. Instead, it was about carrying out President Donald Trump’s stated goal of seeking retribution against the state and its Democratic leaders.

“The government did not surge … forensic accountants to Minnesota,” he said. “They didn’t surge computer experts. Instead, they sent 3,000 masked, armed men who are now kicking in doors, demanding papers, killing Minnesotans – not fighting fraud.”

“The surge has hurt the fight against fraud,” he added.

Ellison faced tough questions from Republican Sens. Ron Johnson and Josh Hawley. Johnson accused Ellison of contributing to the deaths of Good and Pretti by encouraging Minnesotans to protest the law enforcement surge instead of telling them to stay home.

“You’ll never find me being against the First Amendment,” Ellison said in response.

Johnson said it was no wonder that ICE officers were on “hair-trigger alert” considering the number of people who opposed them and sometimes confronted them during operations.

“A tragedy was going to happen,” he said, “and you encouraged it, and you ought to feel damn guilty about it,” the senator said. Ellison described Johnson’s remarks as a “nice theatrical performance, but it was all lies.”

During a later exchange between Ellison and Hawley, the senator slammed how Ellison’s office handled the fraud investigation and said Ellison should resign.

Ellison responded that he thought the same about Hawley. Hawley retorted that Ellison should be in jail.

Who told Noem that Pretti was a terrorist? CBP commissioner says it wasn’t him

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Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott testifies on Thursday.

Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

After last month’s fatal shootings of Good and Pretti, top Trump administration officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, rushed to paint both of them as domestic terrorists who intended to harm law enforcement.

Those assessments were proven to be premature, especially in the case of Pretti, who video showed never brandished his firearm as the administration had initially claimed. Both Noem and White House aide Stephen Miller said they used that description based off what they had been told by Border Patrol officers on the ground.

Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons and Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott, who had recently testified in front of a House committee, were asked about the killings and the administration’s initial depiction of both US citizens.

During today’s hearing, Sen. Gary Peters asked Scott, whose agency oversees Border Patrol, whether the description of Pretti as a terrorist had come from him.

“No, sir,” Scott responded.

Asked whether someone in his staff told Noem that, Scott responded: “Not to my knowledge.”

Asked how Noem could come to that conclusion, Scott said:“I can’t speculate on what someone else would say or why, sir.”

CBP, ICE chiefs shed little light on ongoing investigations

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A video of an ICE operation that led to the killing of Alex Pretti plays behind acting ICE Director Todd Lyons during a hearing on Thursday.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Both Scott and Lyons largely declined to discuss the killings of Pretti and Good, citing ongoing investigations into their killings. But both did answer general questions about the rights all citizens have while interacting with their officers.

They both affirmed that people have the right to film their officers. Asked whether yelling at their officers was a form of domestic assault, both said that it was not.

While he mostly avoided addressing the investigation into Pretti’s killing, Scott told Sen. Rand Paul that body camera video of the incident would be made public.

And responding to claims that his officers aren’t held accountable, Lyons said that ICE has actually opened 37 investigations into complaints of excessive force by their officers since last month.

He said 19 of those investigations remain pending, while one case has been referred “for further action.”

NYT’s David French warns Trump and allies may interfere in midterms: ‘Don’t call it just bluster’ | CNN Politics

By Dana Bash, CNN

Published 2:25 PM EST, Thu February 12, 2026

Longtime conservative writer David French joins Dana Bash to discuss his recent column, “This is not a drill,” where he warns about ways the Trump administration could intrude and sow doubt in November’s congressional elections.

5:50 • Source: CNN

House speaker condemns Trump Justice Department monitoring of lawmakers’ Epstein document review

Updated Feb 12, 2026, 3:31 PM ET | Published Feb 12, 2026, 3:16 PM ET | By Holmes Lybrand, Annie Grayer, Manu Raju

Attorney General Pam Bondi obtained Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal’s search history of the unredacted Jeffrey Epstein files and even President Donald Trump’s most powerful ally in Congress has a problem with it.

House Speaker Mike Johnson on Thursday said the Justice Department’s tracking of lawmakers’ search history was inappropriate, a rare rebuke from the Republican who is usually in lockstep with the administration.

“I think members should obviously have the right to peruse those at their own speed and with their own discretion and I don’t think it’s appropriate for anybody to be tracking that,” Johnson told CNN. “I will echo that to anybody involved in the DOJ.”

Johnson’s comments come after photographs of Bondi’s notes during a Wednesday congressional hearing revealed the Justice Department is tracking which documents lawmakers are reviewing in the unredacted Jeffrey Epstein files, prompting some on Capitol Hill to sound the alarm.

CNN first reported the apparent surveillance from a photo taken of Bondi’s notes during her testimony, which included Jayapal’s “search history” of the documents, with a list of which files the congresswoman had searched.

Jayapal told CNN she did not know the Justice Department had surveilled her search until CNN contacted her Wednesday for comment on the matter.

“I think everyone should be concerned about this. It’s a violation of our separation of powers,” Jayapal said. “We should be able to look at any document we want and not feel like it’s going to be surveilled or used against us in any way. And this was just so obviously egregious.”

When Johnson initially called the allegation of DOJ tracking lawmakers’ search history “unsubstantiated” on Wednesday, Jayapal, who is close with the speaker from his days serving on the Judiciary panel, immediately called him to explain what happened.

“I said, ‘Mike, it’s real. That’s my search history exactly in the order that I searched it,’” Jayapal told CNN of her conversation with Johnson.

Lawmakers have been scheduling times this week to go into a Justice Department building in Washington, DC, to review unredacted versions of the files and have since pressured the Justice Department to unredact the names of individuals who were at one time considered as co-conspirators in Epstein’s crimes.

Lawmakers have not been allowed to bring phones or members of their staff into the building to review the documents and are limited to four computers set up with the unredacted files.

When Jayapal went into the room to view the unredacted Epstein files, a Justice Department employee logged her into one of the four computers available for lawmakers, the lawmaker said.

During the duration of her time in the room, Jayapal said DOJ staffers remained with her, and at one point one of the employees sat directly behind her, able to view her computer screen. Even though lawmakers were allowed to bring in notes with them, Jayapal said she was instructed to only take notes on the pads of paper the Justice Department provided her.

A department spokesperson said in a statement to CNN that “DOJ has extended Congress the opportunity to review unredacted documents in the Epstein files. As a part of that review, DOJ logs all searches made on its systems to protect against the release of victim information.”

Republican firebrand Nancy Mace has also spoken out about the monitoring of lawmakers’ searches, writing on social media Wednesday that “DOJ is tracking the Epstein documents Members of Congress search for, open, and review.”

“I was able to navigate the system today and I won’t disclose how or the nature of how; but confirmed the DOJ is TAGGING ALL DOCUMENTS Members of Congress search, open and review,” she said.

In the aftermath, Jayapal said the Justice Department needs to create a “completely different process” for lawmakers to review the unredacted files without fear of their search history being saved or used against them.

The congresswoman said wants to know why the DOJ set it up in such a way that a lawmaker’s search history could be reviewed in the first place.

Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky said the most “charitable” explanation for tracking members’ search history was that DOJ wanted to “improve their service” by helping members find the most frequently sought-after documents. But Massie said that charitable view is undercut by Bondi carrying with her a list of Jaypal’s search terms at the hearing “where she clearly was prepared with oppo resesarch” and brought “flash cards with insults” to try to “embrass” the members.

“I think it’s kind of creepy that they were hoping to divine some line of attack based on our search histories,” Massie said.

Massie has also criticized the DOJ for having certain redactions in files that lawmakers were supposed to be able to view in an unredacted form. That makes it impossible, he argued, for Congress to access all FBI files in the millions of pages released by the Justice Department.

The law, passed by Congress and co-authored by Massie and Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, limited which redactions DOJ could make, including personal information of victims and materials that would jeopardize an active criminal investigation. But as CNN previously reported, some redactions described by the lawmakers did not line up with the law.

The Justice Department is also required to give Congress a privileged log explaining why certain redactions were made by February 15.

The surveillance is reminiscent of the CIA’s efforts to spy on Senate intelligence committee staffers who were conducting oversight into the CIA’s interrogation and torture tactics that occurred in the wake of the 9/11 attack.

In March of 2014, Senator Dianne Feinstein, who chaired the intelligence committee, said she believed the CIA could have acted illegally in monitoring a standalone computer network in northern Virginia used by staffers to access classified CIA material.

The Justice Department ultimately declined to investigate the matter despite a referral from the Inspector General.