Judge Boasberg Orders WH to Preserve Contents of Signal Chat

A federal judge ordered White House officials involved in a group chat on military strikes in Yemen to preserve the messages after a bombshell report revealed that they potentially shared classified information.

US District Judge James Boasberg ordered members of President Donald Trump's national security team to keep any messages sent or received over the Signal messaging app between 11 and 15 March.

The order stems from a lawsuit filed by American Oversight, which alleges that Trump officials' use of Signal violated federal records laws.

"The Trump Administration has and will continue to comply with all applicable record-keeping laws," White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a statement.

The Atlantic, which first reported the existence of the chat group, noted that messages in the chat were set to disappear after a certain period of time. That has raised concerns that the messages could vanish.

Judge Boasberg said at the hearing that the order was intended to ensure no messages were lost, and not a finding of wrongdoing.

On Monday, Jeffrey Goldberg of the Atlantic reported he was inadvertently added to a Signal group chat along with other accounts that appeared to belong to top Trump administration officials, including Vice-President JD Vance and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz.

Members of the Signal chat discussed an imminent strike against the Houthi rebel group in Yemen, and an account purporting to belong to Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth posted detailed attack and weapons plans for a 15 March strike.

The National Security Council later confirmed the chat's authenticity.

American Oversight's lawsuit names several of the chat's primary participants: Hegseth, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

The suit also named the National Archives and Records Administration, which is tasked with overseeing the preservation of government documents.

American Oversight argues that the Signal chat was covered by the Federal Records Act.

The suit argues that using a "private, encrypted, auto-deleting platform for official communications" without forwarding it to an official government system violated that statute.

"Without court action, they - and many like them - will be automatically destroyed or lost forever," the suit states.

Hegseth and other administration officials have maintained that no sensitive information was shared. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Wednesday that "no war plans" were discussed on the chat, and she insisted to reporters that the information shared should be characterised as "sensitive policy discussions".

At a Thursday afternoon hearing, Judge Boasberg ordered the officials named in the lawsuit to preserve 11-15 March Signal messages.

He followed up with a written order, stating that his decision would expire on 10 April "in the event that Defendants' measures are satisfactory to the Court".

"This order marks an important step toward accountability," Chioma Chukwu, executive director of American Oversight, told the BBC in a statement. "We are grateful for the judge's ruling to halt any further destruction of these critical records."

Judge Boasberg is also handling a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's use of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport Venezuelan nationals to El Salvador earlier this month.

That case sparked accusations that the Trump administration had violated the judge's order to immediately return the immigrants to US soil, and to turn around planes if necessary. Judge Boasberg had first verbally ordered their return, before following with a written order.

The White House had argued it did not violate Judge Boasberg's order, and has issued escalating attacks against the judge. President Donald Trump suggested that the judge should be impeached, prompting a rare rebuke from US Supreme Court Justice John Roberts.

Judge Boasberg addressed the situation at Thursday's hearing over the Signal chat, noting that he had been assigned the new Signal case at random.

After ordering the Trump officials preserve their Signal communications, Judge Boasberg assured parties that his verbal order would be followed up in writing.