American Oversight, a government watchdog group, sued Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other Trump administration officials Tuesday for their use of Signal, a commercial messaging app, to discuss military plans to strike Houthi rebels in Yemen.
In the lawsuit, the group alleges that Trump officials violated federal records laws by using Signal for high-level national security deliberations.
The group seeks “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,” the lawsuit reads.
In addition to Hegseth, National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Marco Rubio in his capacities as secretary of state and acting archivist were named in the lawsuit.
Chioma Chukwu, interim executive director of American Oversight, said Trump officials’ move to discuss military plans in a Signal group chat that inadvertently included a journalist is a “five-alarm fire for government accountability and potentially a crime.”
Disclaimer
The information contained in South Florida Reporter is for general information purposes only.
The South Florida Reporter assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions in the contents of the Service.
In no event shall the South Florida Reporter be liable for any special, direct, indirect, consequential, or incidental damages or any damages whatsoever, whether in an action of contract, negligence or other tort, arising out of or in connection with the use of the Service or the contents of the Service. The Company reserves the right to make additions, deletions, or modifications to the contents of the Service at any time without prior notice.
The Company does not warrant that the Service is free of viruses or other harmful components
