The federal judge who ordered the Trump administration to turn around planes carrying migrants being deported ordered the president's team to preserve all communications over four days stemming from the group chat scandal involving top Cabinet officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz.
Judge James Boasberg issued what he called a "compromise order," MSNBC legal contributor and Just Security fellow Adam Klasfeld wrote on X. The Trump administration defendants in the lawsuit were ordered to preserve all Signal communications between March 11 and March 15.
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"Don’t worry: It’ll be in writing," Boasberg quipped, according to Klasfeld, referencing the Justice Department's decision to ignore his prior oral orders because it felt they were not binding.
Klasfeld noted that Boasberg began the hearing Thursday, explaining the court assigns cases randomly.
Hegseth and Waltz, both high-ranking officials in the Trump administration, stirred controversy due to their involvement in the Signal group chat, in which sensitive attack orders were discussed in the presence of a reporter.
Hegseth shared live updates about a U.S. airstrike on Yemen's Houthi militants, disclosing sensitive details such as launch timings. Waltz initiated the group chat and inadvertently included Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, in the conversation.