The federal judge Republicans have pushed to impeach for banning deportation flights to El Salvador has been assigned to oversee a new lawsuit alleging Trump officials violated federal law by discussing an attack on Yemen in a Signal chat.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg will handle the case brought by watchdog group American Oversight, which accuses Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other officials of violating the Federal Records Act. The lawsuit argues that using a platform that allows government-related messages to be erased is a violation of federal record retention laws.
The Signal group chat became public after Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, was inadvertently added. The White House has acknowledged the chat but insists no “classified materials” or “war plans” were discussed.
Boasberg has already clashed with the Trump administration after ordering deportation flights carrying alleged members of a Venezuelan gang to return to the U.S. The administration defied the order, arguing the flights were already over international waters.
Republicans quickly moved to impeach Boasberg after Trump, in a social media post, attacked him and other “Crooked Judges.”
