Pam Bondi’s Secret DOJ Email Address Revealed

Welcome back to FOIA Files! It’s that time again, when I use the Freedom of Information Act to uncover a former US attorney general’s secret email address. To refresh your memory, in the March 7, 2025 edition of the newsletter, I discussed one of my offbeat FOIA side projects: requesting the email aliases used by the nation’s top law enforcement official to conduct government business. It’s a practice at the Justice Department that dates back more than a decade and, according to the agency, is intended to guard against security threats to the person holding the job. I’ve obtained the secret email address for every person to hold the position from Eric Holder to Merrick Garland. Now, I can add Pam Bondi to the list. If you’re not already getting FOIA Files in your inbox, sign up here.

The sitting attorney general’s email alias is not disclosed until after they leave their post. In my experience, it can only be obtained through the FOIA. So after President Donald Trump fired Bondi in April, I sent the DOJ a request. This week, the agency responded:

As I reported last year, the email alias often represents something personal to the attorney general. Holder, former President Barack Obama’s attorney general, idolized Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and used the NBA Hall of Famer’s birth name, Lew Alcindor, as his email alias. Loretta Lynch, Obama’s second attorney general, used “Elizabeth Carlisle,” her great-grandmother’s name.

Jeff Sessions, the attorney general during Trump’s first term in office, used “Camden Hybart.” That one took a bit of work to figure out. Sessions went to high school in Camden, Alabama and he grew up in Hybart. William Barr, who also served as attorney general during Trump’s first term, used “Bill Ahern.” Ahern is the maiden name of Barr’s mother.

Merrick Garland, former President Joe Biden’s attorney general, used “Abraham Rose.” Garland’s email alias completely stumped me. A Bloomberg editor sleuthed out that Garland had a grandfather named Abraham and a grandmother named Rose.

It only took a few seconds to uncover the relevance behind Bondi’s email alias: her grandmother’s name is Grace Maye.

On a more serious note, the use of pseudonymous email addresses by government officials can undermine transparency and could be an obstacle for anyone trying to obtain government documents. The public is often unaware a political appointee is using such an email alias. That could lead FOIA requesters to chase documents they know exist but don’t turn up during a search because they were overlooked or missed by FOIA officers.

The DOJ has said its FOIA personnel know that the attorney general conducts government business through an alternate email address and they are supposed to take that into account when searching for responsive records. But, it’s not the same as knowing exactly where to look.

Now that Bondi’s email alias has been revealed, anyone seeking her records can include ‘grace.maye@usdoj.gov’ in their requests when identifying the account that should be searched.

Do you have details to disclose about the current state of the FOIA? Or documents you think I should request? Send me an email: jleopold15@bloomberg.net or jasonleopold@protonmail.com. Or send me a secure message on Signal: @JasonLeopold.666.

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