Attorneys involved in a lawsuit against the United States government have unveiled troubling findings regarding the preservation of messages in a controversial Signal group chat linked to the Trump administration. The case revolves around the government’s alleged use of disappearing messages on Signal to coordinate military operations, specifically targeting Houthi forces in Yemen.
According to court filings, American Oversight—a watchdog organization—claims that the government’s responses reveal a deliberate strategy to avoid transparency by destroying government records. They penalize such practices as violations of the Federal Records Act. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has reportedly archived no substantive messages, raising questions about the compliance efforts of various defense and intelligence agencies.
The group chat, initially disclosed by The Atlantic after editor Jeffrey Goldberg was mistakenly included, allowed officials to exchange delicate information with messages that were programmed to disappear. This prompted American Oversight to file Freedom of Information Act requests and later seek a restraining order against the government to preserve any remaining messages.
The chat included numerous key figures from the Trump administration, including Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and other notable officials. The US District Court for the District of Columbia ordered the preservation of these communications after the public revelation on March 27.
Despite the court’s direction, the government’s declarations reflected a haphazard approach to compliance, with significant gaps in information about how and what messages were preserved. As the timeline of the chat efforts unfolded, it appeared that many critical messages, particularly those made in the initial days of March, may have been irretrievable due to the automatic deletion settings.
The Department of Treasury provided the only clear timeline, retrieving some messages following a preservation memo issued to its staff, whereas the Department of Defense claimed to be in the process of complying with the order but had not yet reported substantial findings.
American Oversight has argued that the government’s responses are inadequate and have even pointed to potential wider abuses given reports that multiple Signal chats have been used among various officials. The Department of Justice contended that the public lacks enforceable rights to challenge specific record destructions and that government efforts were sufficient as is.
American Oversight plans to modify its lawsuit to encompass the broader dynamic of Signal usage among top officials, emphasizing that the erosion of governmental transparency erodes democratic foundations. The push to retain records signifies a critical battle for accountability in government communications.
