About the Signal lawsuit assigned to Judge Boasberg... [View all]

[Moosepoop]

Here's a link to the lawsuit itself -- https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.278806/gov.uscourts.dcd.278806.1.0.pdf

I read through it, and it seems that the watchdog group American Oversight, which filed the suit, has been seeking information through FOIA requests about this administration's use of the Signal app since January. They've been requesting info on emails, too, but heavy emphasis on the Signal app communications.

43. Plaintiff American Oversight has submitted multiple Freedom of Information Act requests to Defendants’ agencies, including several requests in 2025 that seek Signal messages.
44. On January 28, 2025, American Oversight submitted a FOIA request to DoD
(bearing American Oversight internal tracking number DOD-25-0183) seeking all records reflecting communications, expressly including Signal messages, between DoD officials, including Pete Hegseth, and anyone in the White House Office, containing one or more specified key terms, from January 20, 2025, through January 27, 2025. On January 28, 2025, DoD acknowledged the request and assigned it tacking number 25-F-2084. Upon information and belief, American Oversight’s request remains pending.

Similar requests were filed throughout the rest of January, February, and March up to the time of Signalgate hitting the news. The FOIA requests are frequent and many -- and have all been stonewalled up to this point. They all remain "pending."

The point is that American Oversight apparently had reason to believe, as early as late January, that this administration has been using the Signal app to avoid any official record of communications since the very start of the current presidency. What that belief is based on (other than the repeated stonewalling that followed the initial request) isn't spelled out in the lawsuit. But they've been doggedly pursuing this for months.

Part of what they're asking for in the lawsuit is for Judge Boasberg to declare the unlawfulness of each person's actions in using the Signal app and not sending the records to the Archives. Named in the suit is Hegseth, Gabbard, Ratcliffe, Bessent, Rubio, and NARA (because Rubio is Acting Archivist).

This lawsuit is one to watch -- it could get very interesting.