Trump administration sued over Signal chat
Five Cabinet members face a federal lawsuit over their alleged use of Signal to discuss U.S. military strikes in Yemen.
American Oversight, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization, filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday afternoon in Washington, D.C., alleging that the use of Signal violates the federal law that governs the preservation of government records, asking a federal judge to order the Cabinet members to preserve the messages.
According to the lawsuit, emergency relief is needed "to prevent the unlawful destruction of federal records and to compel Defendants to fulfill their legal obligations to preserve and recover federal records created through unauthorized use of Signal for sensitive national security decision-making."
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The lawsuit, which names Pete Hegseth, Tulsi Gabbard, John Ratcliffe, Scott Bessent, Marco Rubio and the National Archives and Records Administration as defendants, asked a federal judge to declare the use of Signal unlawful and order the Cabinet members to preserve the records immediately.
According to American Oversight, the use of Signal violated the Federal Records Act and the chat reported by The Atlantic "strongly suggests" the Trump administration has used Signal in other settings.
