WASHINGTON (CN) - A federal judge ordered the Trump administration on Thursday to retain Signal communication records between March 11 and March 15, following a week-long controversy over top administration officials' use of the app to plan a bombing campaign in Yemen.
Chief U.S. District Judge James Boasberg granted the temporary restraining order requiring the Defense Department, Treasury Department, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, CIA and the National Archivist to maintain the records after a Justice Department attorney indicated the agencies were already doing so.
Boasberg, a Barack Obama appointee, clarified at the start of the hearing that American Oversight - the nonprofit that brought the case against the government - did not ask him to disclose the records or impose any penalties if the agencies failed to do so.
His order further required the government to provide later updates about its retention efforts by next Monday, and would remain in place until April 10, "in the event the defendants' measures are satisfactory to the court."
"Unlike a number of recent cases, what I see here is a real chance to reach some common ground on the issued here," Boasberg added.
American Oversight sued on Tuesday, arguing that the use of Signal - which provides an automatic-delete function where users can set a timer before their messages disappear, without any copy or back-up - violated the Federal Records Act.
The messages were made public Monday after Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, published certain screenshots from the conversation and revealed that he had been inadvertently added to the "Houthi PC small group" by National Security Adviser Michael Waltz.
Goldberg shared the full transcript on Wednesday - he first omitted certain messages related to weapons and the timing of attacks The Atlantic believed would endanger American soldiers - which showed top officials like Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth making explicit war plans against Houthi militants in Yemen.
The group chat, made up of Vice President JD Vance, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Hegseth, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, among others, first seemed concerned the timing and rationale of the attack.
"I just hate bailing out the Europeans again," Vance wrote in an early message.
"I fully share your loathing of European freeloading," Hegseth later replied. "Its PATHETIC."
On March 15, the day of the attack, the conversation began to include specific details from the attack.
The incident sparked controversy throughout Washington, particularly during two hearings this week before the Senate and House Intelligence Committees, where members of Congress grilled Gabbard and Ratcliffe over the "shocking and dangerous" security failure.
President Donald Trump has downplayed the severity of the incident, saying in remarks in the Oval Office that Waltz "took responsibility" for the situation and defended Hegseth, saying he was doing a great job and "it's all a witch hunt."
Boasberg, who has become a target of Trump's ire in recent weeks following his ruling to halt deportation flights of Venezuelan immigrants accused of being Tren de Aragua gang members, opened the hearing with an explanation of the court's random assignment process.
In a late night Truth Social post on Wednesday, Trump called it "disgraceful" and "statistically impossible" that Boasberg had been assigned a fourth "Trump case."
"Boasberg, who is the chief judge of the D.C. District Court, seems to be grabbing the 'Trump cases' all to himself, even though it is not supposed to happen that way," Trump wrote. "Is there still such a thing as the 'wheel,' where the judges are chosen fairly, and at random?"
Boasberg explained that the court's cases are still randomly assigned via an automated system, with the help of the Clerk of the Court and a Calendar and Case Management Committee, composed of three to five judges who serve two-year terms. The system is meant to ensure an even distribution among the 25 total judges in Washington.
Source: Courthouse News Service
