The judge who blocked the Trump administration from deporting foreign gang members will hear a lawsuit challenging officials’ use of a Signal chat to discuss attack plans.
American Oversight alleged in its lawsuit Tuesday that the app Signal, where officials hosted a chat about plans to bomb the Houthis in Yemen that included The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg, does not comply with federal record laws.
“Upon information and belief, under current State recordkeeping rules and practices, officials do not forward Signal messages, including messages from the Signal chat, to their official email accounts, thereby barring American Oversight and other FOIA [Freedom of Information Act] requesters from obtaining responsive records to which they are otherwise entitled under FOIA, particularly if such Signal messages are set to auto-delete,” the lawsuit states.
Judge James Boasberg, an Obama-appointee who previously ordered the administration to halt flights carrying members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang, was assigned to the Signal case.
The administration invoked state secrets privilege on Monday when it declined to disclose further information about the flights.
American Oversight Interim Executive Director Chioma Chukwu said the Signal chat is “a five-alarm fire for government accountability and potentially a crime.”
“War planning doesn’t belong in emoji-laden disappearing group chats,” Chukwu said in a statement. “It belongs in secure facilities designed to safeguard national interests — something any responsible government official should have known. Our lawsuit seeks to ensure these federal records are preserved and recovered. The American people deserve answers and we won’t stop until we get them.”
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