Judge who opposed Trump will oversee Signal leak lawsuit
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Judge James Boasberg previously got into a row with Trump after he blocked the latter's attempt to deport five Venezuelans using an archaic wartime law.
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US President Donald Trump speaks at a reception celebrating Greek Independence Day in the East Room of the White House, Monday, March 24, 2025. (AP)
The Federal Judge who previously blocked Trump's use of a 1798 wartime law to deport five Venezuelan immigrants is set to oversee a case against top Trump administration officials for using the Signal messaging app to discuss military operations.
US District Judge James Boasberg has been assigned on Wednesday to oversee the lawsuit filed by the watchdog group American Oversight, which accuses Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other officials of breaching the Federal Records Act.
The lawsuit claims that the use of a platform by Trump administration officials, which enables the deletion of messages concerning government business, constitutes a violation of record retention laws.
Boasberg stands up to Trump deportation
During a press briefing on March 19, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt asserted that a "concerted effort by the far left" had led to the appointment of judges who, in her view, were acting as "partisan activists" against the administration, claiming that these judges were "usurping the will of the president and the chief executive of our country" while also "undermining the will of the American public."
The administration's criticism focused on Boasberg, who suspended deportation flights of Venezuelan migrants on March 16 after the Trump administration had invoked a rarely used wartime law to justify the deportations, arguing that it was necessary to expel alleged Venezuelan gang members.
Leavitt denounced Boasberg as "an activist judge" attempting to "usurp the president's authority."
Trump personally called for Boasberg's impeachment, referring to him as a "Radical Left Lunatic of a Judge" and blaming former President Barack Obama for his appointment.
Trump's remarks led to a rare public response from Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, who stated that "For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision."
Trump officials accidentally add journalist to Signal group chat
On March 24, The Atlantic published a report revealing a highly unusual breach of operational security within the Trump administration, revealing that a journalist had been inadvertently included in a private Signal group chat where top US officials were coordinating military strikes on Yemen.
The group chat, which involved Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, Vice President JD Vance, and several others, contained in-depth conversations about strike schedules, target selections, and weapons loadouts—sensitive details that would typically be restricted to classified government channels.
The editor-in-chief of the magazine was added to a group named "Houthi PC small group," where the top US officials discussed military operations and strikes two hours before they occurred, while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth revealed precise operational intelligence.
The White House issued a statement on March 25 in response to The Atlantic, saying, "This is a coordinated effort to distract from the successful actions taken by President Trump and his administration to make America's enemies pay and keep Americans safe."
