June 20, 2025
Judge rules deleted Signal chats from Trump security chiefs unrecoverable
Secret war planning chats permanently deleted from judicial oversight reach
📜Constitutional Law✊Civil Rights⚖️Justice
On Jun. 20, 2025, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ruled that it is technologically futile to recover already-deleted Signal messages exchanged by five Trump administration national-security chiefs—Rubio, Hegseth, Gabbard, Ratcliffe and Bessent—because Signal’s auto-delete function permanently erases them.
American Oversight, a nonprofit government watchdog, filed the lawsuit after discovering that NSA Mike Waltz had started a Signal group chat used by these officials to discuss a planned U.S. military attack against Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Judge Boasberg found that the court “cannot provide redress for already-deleted messages” but issued a preliminary injunction requiring defendants to notify the National Archivist about any future Signal communications at risk of deletion.
Federal law, including the Presidential Records Act, obligates government officials to preserve official communications for the public record; failure to do so can impede congressional oversight and public accountability.
📜Constitutional Law✊Civil Rights⚖️Justice
Test Your Knowledge
10
Q1
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was involved in the Signal group chat about military operations.
Q2
What feature of Signal makes message recovery difficult?
Q3
Name the government watchdog group that sued over the deleted Signal messages.
Q4
How did journalist Jeffrey Goldberg discover the Signal group chat?
Q5
Which federal judge ruled on the Trump officials Signal messages case?
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James Boasberg (U.S. District Judge who issued the recovery and preservation ruling)
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Jeffrey Goldberg (journalist who was mistakenly added to the Signal group chat)
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Pete Hegseth (Secretary of Defense and participant in the Signal discussion)
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John Ratcliffe (CIA Director accused of failing to comply with preservation orders)
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