And SIGNALGATE now has a Wikipedia page. Already. Growing legs into a wiki page within days - and that page shows newly published parts of the chat that editor Goldberg had previously withheld, but published when Trump's officials all said there was no classified material in it (debate being whether it should have been classified, with Gabbard and Ratcliff saying that was DOD's decision to not classify it; i.e., fingerpointing at "Hegseth, not me."
During a hearing on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe contended that the Signal chat in question did not include classified information.
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https://www.rawstory.com/signal-scandal-2671494591/
That Raw Story item gives notice of the lawsuit and that random selection has assigned the case to Judge Boasberg (the Obama appointee also overseeing the Venezuelans-to-El Salvador extradition litigation).
The party suing over preservation of public records is American Oversight, and this link is its press release, with a complaint copy online, pdf format, here.
Politico notes Rubio in a straddle:
The assignment of the case to Boasberg comes just two days after the Trump administration, in the Venezuela deportation case, invoked the “state secrets” privilege to refuse to share details with the Obama-appointed judge about the timing of deportation flights to El Salvador.
Boasberg is pressing the administration for details about the flights to determine whether officials violated his order earlier this month barring Trump from deporting people under the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 law last invoked during World War II. But administration lawyers argued that “disclosure would pose reasonable danger to national security and foreign affairs.”
Rubio, notably, submitted a declaration to Boasberg justifying the state secrets invocation, saying that sharing details about the flights with Boasberg — even under seal or in a classified setting — would endanger national security.
“The more widely information is shared the greater the risk that the information will reach the public (even if unintentionally),” Rubio wrote.
Now, Rubio is a defendant in the Signalgate lawsuit brought by American Oversight, a left-leaning government watchdog group. He is being sued not only for his involvement in the text exchange but also for his dual position as acting head of the National Archives, which is responsible for preserving records used by government officials in the course of their work. The Atlantic reported that Waltz set the text thread to automatically delete.
That's meeting himself coming back the other way, which is always a discomfort. Politico also mentioned Trump's vendetta hate toward Boasberg for not being a bootlicker type he is used to:
Boasberg prompted a furious backlash from Trump and his allies when he halted the administration’s deportation efforts earlier this month, ruling that the administration appeared to be violating due process requirements by tagging Venezuelan nationals as terrorists and rushing them onto planes with virtually no chance to contest the designation.
Trump called for Boasberg’s impeachment, a call that was echoed by some members of Congress, and has unleashed near-daily attacks on the judge.
BBC coverage an ongoing updated last-in-top-of-post item. Readers are urged to keep it current as reporting is updated.
Hegseth has said no targets were identified in the chat thread. Wikipedia contradicts. "Their top missle guy" identifies the target, after the strike, and his status identification is more newsworthy than if only a name given..
AGAIN legs have grown. It is all over the web. You can find a spectrum of coverage evolving, where that BBC item is again noted. All for now. If searching, using
search = SIGNALGATE
should keep you informed, although other search is clearly possible.
____________UPDATE_________
The litigation assigned to Judge Boasberg specifically seeks this relief:
WHEREFORE, Plaintiff respectfully requests that this Court:
1. Declare that messages and communications sent through the Signal application in the course of conducting agency business are agency records subject to the FRA;
2. Declare that the failure to ensure such messages and communications are preserved, as required by 44 U.S.C. § 2911, comprises an unlawful removal of federal records in violation of the FRA;
3. Declare that Defendants have maintained an inadequate recordkeeping system under the FRA;
4. Declare that Defendants have violated their respective duties under the FRA andAPA;
5. Issue emergency injunctive relief and a permanent injunction ordering Defendants to comply with their respective duties under the FRA and APA, including by referring the matter to the Attorney General for enforcement of the FRA, preservation of records, recovery of unlawfully removed records, and the recovery or restoration of any deleted or destroyed materials to the extent possible;
6. Issue emergency injunctive relief and a permanent injunction ordering Defendants to preserve all materials relating to Plaintiff’s claims under the FRA;
7. Grant Plaintiff an award of attorneys’ fees and other litigation costs reasonably incurred in this action; and
8. Grant Plaintiff any other relief this Court deems appropriate.
Dated: March 25, 2025
The import of the lawsuit is that a protocol existed at the time this SIGNAL chat was held by which SIGNAL was used by highest level federal officials and part of the protocol was to remove chat portions in one day, four days for the rest.
That is worrisome to historians who want non-classified public records preserved so that after the fact, true history, inclusive history, will be preserved to assist them and the general public to see what the government was doing and when it was doing it.
The words coming to mind, TRANSPARANCY, RESPONSIBILITY, ACCOUNTABILITY are all trampled and dishonored when top officials scrub records and use unofficial communication channels such as SIGNAL to cover their tracks.
This scrubbing and side-channel use was deliberate, and an inescapable circumstantial inference is this is not the first time in only two months of a Pres 47 reign that such unacceptable usage has happened. The public of the United States of America deserves better. And Hegseth should resign. Two of the nation's lead spooks say it was his game, to do all the wrong things and then be confrontational and belligerent, instead of duly apologetic, when the fan loaded up.
Replace him with someone better fit to lead a major arm of government.
Gabbard would do well as head of DOD. She'd likely take the switch, for the good of the nation. And NCI duties could go to another nominee, duly confirmed
FURTHER: None of these thread participants looks good. The pejorative anti-Europe banter offends. Emoji use is childish. To the extent they are adults they will, aside from Hegseth, be more careful. Pete is a disaster looking to happen.