Judge Boasberg Gives Trump Administration New Order On Signal Chats

Obama-appointed Judge James Boasberg has just ordered all agencies involved in the leaked chat group that accidentally added a journalist to preserve Signal messaging records dated from March 11th-15th.

Take a look:

ALERT: After 30 minute hearing here in DC, Judge James Boasberg orders Trump national security team to preserve all Signal communications between March 11 and March 15.

— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) March 27, 2025

Idiot Judge James Boasberg orders the Trump administration to preserve Signal messages from March 11-15. pic.twitter.com/vBCQl0VqRg

— GreatLakesLady (@GreatlakesladyM) March 27, 2025

Judge Boasberg’s order is part of a lawsuit filed by leftist watchdog group American Oversight over the Signal messages published by The Atlantic‘s editor-in-chief Jeffery Goldberg.

Many top Trump administration officials are named in the lawsuit, including Pete Hegseth, John Ratcliffe, and Tulsi Gabbard.

The lawsuit alleges that by using the app Signal to communicate about “military actions,” they are violating the Presidential Records Act.

Judge Boasberg was assigned to the case and held the first hearing today.

More from Politico:

A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to preserve chats that senior officials conducted on the Signal messaging app, including a now infamous exchange accidentally shared with a reporter earlier this month about an imminent military operation in Yemen.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg issued the order Thursday at the request of a transparency group that filed a lawsuit alleging that the app’s automatic delete function left the messages at risk of being destroyed in violation of the Federal Records Act.

During a brief afternoon hearing, Justice Department attorney Amber Richer told Boasberg such an order was not necessary because the agencies involved were already taking steps to preserve the records, but she did not object to the judge reinforcing that with a court order.

“We are still in the process of working with agencies to determine what records they have, but we are also working with the agencies to preserve whatever records they have,” Richer said.

However, the government lawyer appeared to acknowledge a statement from a Treasury Department official in a court filing earlier in the day that suggested Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent currently has only part of the message chain about the Yemen strike.

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The journalist who was added to the message chain, Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg, reported that the chat began on March 11. But Bessent apparently has retained only the messages starting on the afternoon of March 15. It is not clear why Bessent doesn’t have earlier messages or whether other senior officials on the chat have retained them.

“I just want to caveat that we are still ascertaining what records the agencies have,” Richer told Boasberg.

Newsweek added:

The directive comes amid a lawsuit filed in the U.S. Court for the District of Columbia by the nonprofit watchdog American Oversight.

The suit accuses several senior administration officials involved in the Signal chat of violating the Federal Records Act and the Administrative Procedure Act by conducting government business on a platform designed to erase communications.

The suit names Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent.

During a hearing on Thursday, Boasberg directed officials in the chat to preserve all their messages in what he called a “compromise order,” MSNBC legal contributor Adam Klasfeld reported on X, formerly Twitter.

And, in case you aren’t sure…

Yes, this is the very same Judge Boasberg who is facing impeachment for ruling to stop President Trump from invoking the Alien Enemies Act and deporting hundreds of violent, criminal gangbangers to El Salvador.

He began his hearing today by insisting that this case was just a random assignment.

HAPPENING NOW: Judge Boasberg has begun the hearing with a detailed explanation of the random case assignment process, emphasizing that he did not ask for or somehow proactively get this case.

He is also seeking to see if AO and Trump admin can reach agreement to avoid TRO. https://t.co/HrnQPczd1m

— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) March 27, 2025

I’m so reassured!

Here I was, thinking the whole thing was rigged.

I’m so glad we have Judge Boasberg’s word that it’s not rigged at all…

BREAKING NEWS:

In his FOURTH ACTIVE Trump case, Judge James Boasberg orders Trump national security team to preserve all Signal communications between March 11 and March 15.

FYI: There is a 6% chance, Boasberg was randomly assigned four Trump cases.

The entire thing STINKS.

— Mila Joy (@MilaLovesJoe) March 27, 2025