Judge James Boasberg orders to preserve messages from top Trump officials on Signal
Despite assurances from a government lawyer that measures were already in place to collect and safeguard the messages, the judge insisted on imposing a restriction.
Kash Patel, Tulsi Gabbard and John Ratcliffe.
A federal judge issued an order to prevent the deletion of messages that top national security officials in Donald Trump's administration exchanged through the encrypted Signal app.
Judge James Boasberg, who questioned the legality of the deportations of Venezuelan gang members, imposed a restriction Thursday to ensure these records are maintained in response to a request by American Oversight. This organization bills itself as an advocate for government transparency.
During the hearing, a government lawyer emphasized that measures were already being implemented to collect and safeguard the messages in question, ensuring compliance with record-keeping regulations. However, American Oversight has stressed its concerns about using Signal for official communications.
Judge Boasberg limited his order to messages exchanged between March 11 and March 15 and asked the government to provide an update on the situation next Monday.
Politics
National Security Advisor Michael Waltz took "full responsibility" for the war plans leak
Luis Francisco Orozco
The leak
According to the publication, Hegseth reportedly shared details about the takeoff time of the fighter jets and the estimated time the bombs would hit targets in Yemen. He is also credited with mentioning a "strike window" and the location of an alleged "target terrorist."
Reactions and stance of the Trump administration
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed that the Signal chat did not contain classified information. In the same vein, Hegseth's spokesman, Sean Parnell, emphasized that "there were no classified materials or war plans shared. The Secretary was merely updating the group on a plan that was underway."
On the other hand, Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, and John Ratcliffe, the director of the CIA, testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee that it was up to Hegseth to determine the classification of the information shared.
Despite the official explanations, American Oversight insists that these records should be accessible to the public, arguing that they are part of official government communications.
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