On Oct. 2, 2026, Bloomberg reported that former Attorney General Pam Bondi conducted Justice Department business from an email account under an alias, which uses her grandmother’s name. Bloomberg’s Jason Leopold obtained the address through a Freedom of Information Act request filed after President Trump fired Bondi in April, Raw Story reported, citing Bloomberg.
The Justice Department says attorneys general have used alias accounts for more than a decade to guard against security threats, and the aliases stay undisclosed until the official leaves office, according to Bloomberg. Leopold wrote that records kept under an alias can be overlooked by FOIA officers, so requesters may not receive documents they know exist. He wrote that the practice “could be an obstacle for anyone trying to obtain government documents.” Requesters can now name the account in their requests.
Former Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s alias, “Elizabeth Carlisle” at ecarlisle@jmd.usdoj.gov, surfaced in 2017 in Justice Department records released to the American Center for Law and Justice and Judicial Watch. In August, the watchdog group CREW sent the Justice Department and the National Archives a demand letter and FOIA request saying Bondi may have failed to preserve emails and text messages as the Federal Records Act requires. CREW cited a report that she rarely used her Justice Department email.
CREW has said it will sue if the National Archives does not act.
Executive Brief: Bondi Used Grandmother’s Name as DOJ Email Alias
Sources
- Bloomberg, “Pam Bondi’s Secret DOJ Email Address Revealed Through FOIA” (Oct. 2, 2026)
- Raw Story, “Pam Bondi’s hidden email alias exposed in practice that can ‘undermine transparency'” (Oct. 2, 2026)
- CREW, “CREW demands answers from DOJ and NARA on Pam Bondi records” (Aug. 13, 2026)
- ACLJ, “ACLJ FOIA Unmasks Former Obama Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s Secret Email Alias” (Aug. 7, 2017)
- Fox News, “Lynch used email alias ‘Elizabeth Carlisle’ to write about Clinton tarmac meeting” (Aug. 7, 2017)
Filed under: Department of Justice