WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� A federal judge on Thursday said he will order the Trump administration to preserve records of a in which senior national security officials discussed sensitive details of plans for a U.S. military strike against Yemen鈥檚 Houthis.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg said during a hearing that he鈥檒l issue a temporary restraining order barring administration officials from destroying messages sent over the .
A nonprofit watchdog, American Oversight, requested the order. A government attorney said the administration already was taking steps to collect and save the messages.
the entire Signal chat on Wednesday. Its editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, had been added to a discussion that included Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, national security adviser Michael Waltz, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Vice President JD Vance and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
On the chat, Hegseth provided the exact timings of warplane launches and when bombs would drop before the attacks against Yemen鈥檚 Houthis began earlier this month. Hegseth laid out when a 鈥渟trike window鈥� would open, where a 鈥渢arget terrorist鈥� was located and when weapons and aircraft would be used.
The images of the text chain show that the messages were set to disappear in one week.
American Oversight sued this week to ensure that the records are kept in accordance with the Federal Records Act. The group suspects that administration officials routinely use Signal to communicate.
鈥淒efendants鈥� use of a non-classified commercial application even for such life-and-death matters as planning a military operation leads to the inevitable inference that Defendants must have used Signal to conduct other official government business,鈥� American Oversight鈥檚 attorneys wrote in a court filing.
Boasberg limited his order to messages sent between March 11 and March 15.
鈥淲e are still ascertaining what records the agencies have,鈥� Justice Department attorney Amber Richer said.
鈥淚鈥檓 glad we could figure out a solution,鈥� the judge later said. He instructed the government to provide him with an update Monday.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has said no classified information was posted to the Signal chat. Hegseth鈥檚 spokesman, Sean Parnell, said in a statement Wednesday that 鈥渢here were no classified materials or war plans shared. The Secretary was merely updating the group on a plan that was underway.鈥�
Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe that Hegseth was responsible for determining whether the information was classified.
American Oversight鈥檚 attorneys argued that the public is entitled to access government records even if they are auto-deleting messages that originated on officials鈥� private phones.
鈥淭his is nothing less than a systematic effort to evade the rules for record retention in the federal government,鈥� they wrote. 鈥淭here is no legitimate reason for this behavior, which deprives the public and Congress of an ability to see the actions of government.鈥�
Boasberg has been at odds with the administration over a separate case involving flights deporting Venezuelan immigrants to El Salvador under an 18th century wartime law. He temporarily and ordered at least two planes carrying immigrants to turn around, but that didn鈥檛 happen. The judge has whether the administration ignored his turnaround order.
Boasberg, who was nominated by Democratic President Barack Obama, noted during Thursday鈥檚 hearing that his order shouldn鈥檛 harm the government since the agencies already were working to preserve the Signal messages.
Michael Kunzelman, The Associated Press
