The federal judge overseeing the lawsuit over the Trump administration’s Signal chat scandal scheduled the case’s first hearing for Thursday afternoon.
Why it matters: News that Trump officials discussed military plans over a Signal chat that inadvertently included the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic has rocked Washington, sparking calls for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz to be ousted.
- The saga raises legal questions about whether using Signal, which deletes messages after a set period of time, violates federal record preservation laws or potentially the Espionage Act.
Driving the news: Government watchdog group American Oversight sued members of the administration Tuesday, alleging the group chat violated the Federal Records Act.
- American Oversight wants to prevent the messages in the chat from being deleted and to compel the government to “preserve and recover federal records created” via the chat.
- The case’s initial hearing is set to take place at 4pm Thursday, according to the court docket.
The big picture: In a twist of fate for President Trump, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg was assigned to oversee the case Wednesday.
- Boasberg is also overseeing challenges to the Trump administration’s efforts to deport alleged members of a Venezuelan gang to El Salvador.
Zoom in: Trump took to Truth Social Thursday to rail against Boasberg’s appointment to the Signalgate case, calling it “disgraceful.”
- “He is Highly Conflicted, not only in his hatred of me — Massive Trump Derangement Syndrome! — but also, because of disqualifying family conflicts,” Trump wrote, though he did not elaborate on what the conflicts were.
Go deeper: Calls for Hegseth, Waltz ousters grow in Congress over leaked chat
