Judge orders Trump to keep messages about Yemen attack plans

Listen To Story Above

A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to preserve leaked messages containing “attack plans” on Thursday, following his earlier ruling that blocked the deportation of foreign gang members.

The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg and Shane Harris published conversations revealing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s military strategy for targeting Houthis in Yemen, which was followed by Vice President JD Vance’s message about praying for success. Obama appointee U.S. District Judge James Boasberg issued a directive requiring the Trump administration to maintain all Signal app communications from March 11 through March 15.

The judge’s order specifically names five Trump administration officials involved in the discussions, requiring them to take immediate action to preserve these messages. The published article by Goldberg exposed specifics about the planned Yemen operation, including details about timing and weapons to be deployed against Houthi rebels.

🚨 WTF?! Judge Boasberg, the activist judge BLOCKING Trump from deporting violent gang members, intentionally DELAYED the release of Hillary Clinton’s emails until after the 2016 election

/div>

He’s also now “coincidentally” presiding over the Signal case

This is RIGGED! How do… pic.twitter.com/9mRpZ7zY2p

— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) March 26, 2025

The lawsuit was initiated by American Oversight, an organization frequently involved in litigation against the federal government for records access, claiming the group discussion violated the Federal Records Act.

“This order marks an important step toward accountability,” American Oversight Interim Executive Director Chioma Chukwu said in a statement. “We are grateful for the judge’s ruling to halt any further destruction of these critical records. The public has a right to know how decisions about war and national security are made — and accountability doesn’t disappear just because a message was set to auto-delete.”

During the hearing, Boasberg addressed concerns after his random assignment to another significant case concerning deportation flights under the Alien Enemies Act.

🚨Rep. Jim Jordan Says it's ALL Been Planned and It's NO SURPRISE Rogue Judge Boasberg Was Assigned To The Signal Messages Lawsuit:

"Supposed to be random. He could recuse himself from the case if there's a bias.. he won't. There's a history. They had lawsuit readt. Go figure." pic.twitter.com/rQ2MpZbmlt

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) March 26, 2025

“I’ve come to understand that some questions have been raised regarding this Court’s random assignment system,” the judge said. “So given the public interest that’s involved in cases that have been filed in this court, I thought it might be useful to briefly explain it on the record.”

The judge explained that case assignments are distributed randomly among judges across various categories, including antitrust, federal records acts, and employment cases.

The situation developed after Trump enacted the wartime Alien Enemies Act to accelerate the deportation of Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang members. Despite Boasberg’s subsequent temporary injunction against Trump’s directive, three aircraft carrying 238 suspected and confirmed TdA members and 23 MS-13 members had already landed at El Salvador International Airport.