Rubio ordered to refer remaining Signal texts to DOJ as court can’t do anything about deleted messages
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Judge James Boasberg ordered Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the acting archivist, to collect any Signal messages belonging to top Trump administration officials and refer them to the Justice Department.
Boasberg said he could not do anything about the Signal messages that have already been deleted, but the execution of his order would preserve the messages that have not yet been deleted.
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The order comes as a watchdog group sued several Trump administration Cabinet members, including Rubio, after Signalgate. Signalgate, which occurred back in March, involved a story published in The Atlantic concerning a leaked Signal group chat in which officials spoke about military operations against the Houthis in Yemen.
Boasberg said the court record shows that the five Trump administration officials “have thus far neglected to fulfill their duties” under the Federal Records Act. He believes American Oversight, the group that brought the case, has made a strong argument that top government officials used Signal for work purposes and set messages to auto-delete.
The Federal Records Act requires the government to maintain records that document its activities, among other things.
The judge said he had limited options other than to demand Rubio ask Attorney General Pam Bondi to ensure compliance with the FRA by making sure the remaining messages were not deleted.
Chioma Chukwu, executive director of American Oversight, signaled the group’s lawsuit was over but that he was “fully prepared” to sue again if the Trump administration does not follow Boasberg’s order.
“It should never have required court intervention to compel the acting Archivist and other agency heads to perform their basic legal duties, let alone to refer the matter to the Attorney General for enforcement,” Chukwu said.
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Signalgate resulted in the departure of national security adviser Mike Waltz and his deputy Alex Wong from the Pentagon, in addition to an investigation into the incident. The investigation has since expanded to include Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s Signal group chat that included members of his family.
Boasberg is one of President Donald Trump’s most criticized judges. The president has called for his impeachment as Boasberg handles several Trump administration-related cases and has ruled against them.