For the Republic
← Command Center / 🎙 Episode / 2026-02-13 · ~13 minutes (~1,920 words)

Bondi's Burn Book: When the Watchmen Watch Back

Draft Complete — Pending Host Review

Fact Check

7/10
fact-check.md

Fact Check Report

Summary

The draft is generally well-sourced and factually solid. The core narrative -- that Bondi brought Jayapal's Epstein file search history to a House Judiciary Committee hearing, that bipartisan criticism followed, and that the DOJ justified tracking as victim protection -- is well-supported by multiple sources. However, there are two claims that need correction or revision, and several that need additional context or verification.

  • Red flags: 1
  • Yellow flags: 4
  • Blue flags: 3

Findings

Red Flags

"Lindsey Graham -- who, I'll note, blew up at a Verizon executive for complying with that very subpoena and is now demanding hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation"

  • Location in script: Counterargument section (Jack Smith comparison), roughly paragraph 15
  • Issue: The claim that Graham is "demanding hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation" is misleading as stated. At the February 10, 2026 Senate Judiciary hearing where he confronted Verizon executives, Graham explicitly said: "I'm not asking for compensation. I'm asking to get to the bottom of what happened." However, separately, Graham championed a provision in a government funding bill that allows senators whose phone records were obtained to sue the federal government for $500,000 per instance. Graham himself said "It's going to be a hell of a lot more than $500,000. This is twice it happened to me." He also blocked an attempt to repeal this provision even after the House voted unanimously to scrap it. So there is a compensation angle, but calling it "demanding hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation" conflates the legislative provision with a direct demand and misrepresents what he said at the hearing.
  • Evidence: ABC News 4, The Hill, and Washington Examiner reporting on the February 10, 2026 hearing and the funding bill provision. At the hearing: "I'm not asking for compensation." On the legislative provision: Graham positioned to collect $500K+ per instance via a provision he championed and defended.
  • Recommended fix: Revise to something like: "Lindsey Graham -- who blew up at a Verizon executive for complying with that subpoena, telling him 'You failed me,' and who championed a provision allowing affected senators to sue the government for $500,000 per instance of records access." This captures the compensation angle accurately without mischaracterizing his hearing testimony.

Yellow Flags

"Senator Lindsey Graham... has drawn a direct equivalence"

  • Location in script: Counterargument section, paragraph 15
  • Issue: The script says Graham "has drawn a direct equivalence" between the Bondi/Jayapal situation and the Jack Smith phone records situation. This overstates Graham's position. When asked to compare the two situations, Graham was equivocal -- he told reporters he wasn't sure whether the DOJ keeping track of what Epstein documents lawmakers look at was out of line, but hastened to say "Getting my phone records was out of line." It was Rep. Jim Jordan who more explicitly drew the equivalence, calling Democratic complaints "pretty rich" given "what the DOJ has done to Republican members of Congress under Jack Smith." Attributing a "direct equivalence" to Graham specifically is not well-supported.
  • Context: Jordan is the one who drew the explicit equivalence. Graham's position was more ambivalent -- he dodged the comparison rather than embracing it.
  • Recommended fix: Either attribute the equivalence to Jordan (who actually said it) or revise to: "Senator Lindsey Graham has deflected the comparison by insisting that getting his phone records was worse." The script already names Jordan elsewhere, so integrating his "pretty rich" quote here or clarifying Graham's actual stance would be more accurate.

"Nancy Mace -- one of the original signers of the Epstein Transparency Act"

  • Location in script: Beat 1, paragraph about bipartisan criticism
  • Issue: Mace was one of the original four Republican signers of the discharge petition to force a House vote on the Epstein Files Transparency Act, not a signer or co-author of the Act itself. The Act was introduced by Massie and Khanna. The Daily Caller source material itself says she was "one of the original four Republicans to sign onto the discharge resolution for the Epstein Transparency Act." The distinction matters because signing a discharge petition is a procedural move, while being a "signer" of the Act suggests authorship.
  • Context: The four original Republican signers of the discharge petition were Massie, Mace, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Lauren Boebert.
  • Recommended fix: Change to "one of the original Republican signers of the discharge petition for the Epstein Transparency Act" or simply "a Republican supporter of the Epstein Transparency Act."

"Every AG who testifies before a hostile committee comes armed with opposition research. Eric Holder did it. Bill Barr did it. Merrick Garland did it."

  • Location in script: Counterargument section, paragraph 14 (hearing-prep defense)
  • Issue: This claim is presented as established fact about three specific former AGs. While it is a reasonable general assertion that AGs prepare for hostile hearings, there is no specific sourcing to confirm that Holder, Barr, and Garland each specifically brought "opposition research" on individual lawmakers to hearing testimony. Naming them specifically as examples elevates a general assumption into a specific factual claim.
  • Context: All three AGs testified before hostile committees and were held in contempt of Congress. It is highly plausible they prepared extensively. But "opposition research" has a specific meaning, and attributing it as a documented practice to all three without sourcing is an assertion, not a verified fact.
  • Recommended fix: Either drop the specific names and say "Every AG who testifies before a hostile committee comes prepared" or soften to "it's safe to assume" framing. Alternatively, keep the names but revise: "Every AG who testifies before a hostile committee prepares for adversarial questioning -- that's Politics 101."

Nancy Mace quote: "As she described it to reporters"

  • Location in script: Beat 1, Mace section
  • Issue: The script says Mace described the tracking "to reporters" generically. The source material (Daily Caller) specifies that the interview was with a MeidasTouch reporter, and her social media posts were on X. This is a minor point, but "reporters" plural slightly mischaracterizes the source. Additionally, the script quotes Mace as saying "They give each of us a login with their name attached to it" -- the Daily Caller source has "They give each of us a log in with their name attached to it." The script's quote is substantively accurate but the phrasing has minor differences from the source.
  • Context: Mace also made similar statements on X and in an NPR interview, so the plural "reporters" is arguably defensible across the totality of her public statements, even if the specific extended quote came from the MeidasTouch interview.
  • Recommended fix: No change strictly required, but if precision is desired, attribute as "as she told a reporter" (singular) or note that she made similar statements across multiple outlets.

Verification Needed

"Jayapal asked Epstein's victims in the audience to stand and indicate whether the DOJ had ever contacted them -- none had"

  • Location in script: Opening narrative, paragraph 2
  • Note: The source material (Techdirt) says Jayapal "asked some of Jeffrey Epstein's victims who were in the audience to stand up and indicate whether Bondi's DOJ had ever contacted them about their experiences. None of them had heard from the Justice Department." Additional web sources (Boing Boing, other outlets) confirm "every trafficking victim seated behind Attorney General Pam Bondi at the hearing raised their hand when asked whether the Department of Justice had refused to meet with them." The claim checks out against available sourcing, but the host should confirm whether it was "stand" or "raise their hand" -- sources differ on the specific physical gesture.

The "web-style diagram connecting Epstein and Maxwell to other individuals -- some of the faces redacted"

  • Location in script: Opening paragraph
  • Note: This comes from the Daily Caller's description of the photograph. The Daily Caller describes: "Beneath the search entries was a web-style diagram... A photo of Jeffrey Epstein appeared to be in the center with an image of convicted accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell positioned to the left... five other faces branched out from the center... The faces and identifying details of six additional individuals were seemingly redacted." CNBC and CBS independently confirmed a diagram of Epstein's inner circle. The script's description appears accurate but is based primarily on photo descriptions rather than confirmed document content. The host should verify this matches what other outlets have reported if possible.

"On February 11th, Bondi testified before the House Judiciary Committee"

  • Location in script: Opening narrative
  • Note: Multiple sources confirm the hearing took place on February 11, 2026 (a Wednesday). The photographs were published and the story broke on February 11-12. The CNN lead source refers to Johnson's comments coming on "Thursday" (February 12) after photographs emerged from "a Wednesday congressional hearing." This date checks out.

Sources Consulted

Clean Claims

The following major factual claims in the script checked out and are on solid ground:

  1. The binder incident itself. Bondi had a page labeled "Jayapal Pramila Search History" in her binder at the February 11, 2026 House Judiciary Committee hearing. Confirmed by Reuters and AFP photographs, CNN reporting, Daily Caller reporting, CNBC, CBS, and NBC.

  2. Jayapal did not know until CNN contacted her. "Jayapal didn't know the DOJ had been tracking her searches until CNN called her for comment." Confirmed directly by CNN source material.

  3. Jayapal's quote: "That's my search history exactly in the order that I searched it." Confirmed by CNN source material as part of her conversation with Speaker Johnson.

  4. The Epstein Transparency Act was co-authored by Massie and Khanna. Confirmed by Congress.gov, Massie's official website, and multiple news sources.

  5. The DOJ review room setup: four computers, individual logins, no personal devices, DOJ staffers present, government-provided note pads. Confirmed across CNN, Daily Caller, CNBC, Axios, NBC, and NPR reporting.

  6. The DOJ's official justification for logging. The quote "DOJ logs all searches made on its systems to protect against the release of victim information" is confirmed verbatim across CNN, CNBC, and Daily Caller.

  7. Johnson's progression from "unsubstantiated" to "inappropriate." Confirmed by CNN source material and ABC News. Johnson initially called the allegation "unsubstantiated" on Wednesday, then shifted to "inappropriate" on Thursday after Jayapal called him.

  8. Johnson's direct quotes. "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." Confirmed verbatim by CNN.

  9. Jayapal's "Mike, it's real" quote. Confirmed by CNN source material.

  10. Massie's quotes about "flash cards with insults," "oppo research," "creepy," "divine some line of attack based on our search histories," and "improve their service." All confirmed by CNN source material. Minor note: CNN has slight paraphrasing around some of these, but the direct-quoted portions match.

  11. The 2014 CIA/Senate incident. The CIA spied on Senate Intelligence Committee staffers investigating the torture program. Feinstein called it potentially illegal. The DOJ declined to investigate. All confirmed by NPR, CNN, US News, and other sources from 2014. The script's claim that "the CIA tried to hide it" is also confirmed -- CIA Director Brennan initially denied it, saying "nothing could be further from the truth," before the CIA Inspector General confirmed it and Brennan apologized.

  12. Jack Smith used grand jury subpoenas for phone toll records of Republican members of Congress. Confirmed by Senate Judiciary Committee records, CBS News, The Hill, and multiple sources. The script's distinction between "grand jury subpoenas -- a legal process with judicial oversight" versus Bondi's "administrative system access with no legal process" is factually accurate.

  13. Jim Jordan called the Democratic outrage "pretty rich." Confirmed by MS Now, ABC News, Courthouse News Service.

  14. The hearing date (February 11, 2026). Confirmed across all sources.

  15. Bondi refused to look at victims. The claim that Bondi "wouldn't even look at them" when Jayapal asked victims to stand/indicate is confirmed by Techdirt source material and Boing Boing reporting.