Trump Administration's Signal Chat Leak Sparks New Lawsuit Assigned to Judge Boasberg
A lawsuit against the Trump administration over a leaked Signal chat involving Pentagon plans has been assigned to Judge James Boasberg, stirring controversy among Republican lawmakers.
A lawsuit filed by the government watchdog group American Oversight against members of the Trump administration has been assigned to U.S. District Judge James Boasberg. The lawsuit alleges that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other officials violated federal records laws by discussing plans to attack Houthi forces in Yemen via a Signal group chat. The case has ignited a firestorm of criticism from Republican figures who question Judge Boasberg’s impartiality due to his previous rulings against the administration, including halting deportation efforts.
Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) has criticized what he termed ‘rogue judges’ and introduced legislation aimed at preventing district-level judges from issuing nationwide injunctions. In a statement to Fox News Digital, Hawley argued that such judges have been more focused on obstructing President Trump’s agenda than on applying the law correctly. Representative Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) has similarly called for Boasberg’s recusal from the case, citing perceived bias against the Trump administration.
The lawsuit, which also names Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio as defendants, centers on violations of the Federal Records Act. This act requires federal officials to preserve communications related to official government business. American Oversight contends that the use of Signal, which allows messages to be set to auto-delete, may have led to the illegal destruction of records.
Legal experts have weighed in on the controversy surrounding the case’s assignment to Boasberg. Andrew Cherkasky, a former federal prosecutor, expressed concern that having Boasberg preside over another case involving the Trump administration could discredit the D.C. District Court. Alina Habba, a former Trump lawyer, described the lawsuit as an example of judicial political advocacy and lamented the weaponization of the judicial system against the administration’s national security efforts.
The White House has refuted claims that the Signal group chat was used for ‘war planning,’ and Tulsi Gabbard, during a House Intelligence Committee hearing, clarified that no classified information was shared in the chat. She described the inclusion of a reporter in the chat as an inadvertent mistake and noted that the National Security Council is conducting a review of the incident.