Judge rules deleted Signal chats from Trump security chiefs unrecoverable

On Jun. 20, 2025, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ruled that it is technologically futile to recover already-deleted Signal messages exchanged by five Trump administration national-security chiefs—Rubio, Hegseth, Gabbard, Ratcliffe and Bessent—because Signal’s auto-delete function permanently erases them.

American Oversight, a nonprofit government watchdog, filed the lawsuit after discovering that NSA Mike Waltz had started a Signal group chat used by these officials to discuss a planned U.S. military attack against Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Judge Boasberg found that the court “cannot provide redress for already-deleted messages” but issued a preliminary injunction requiring defendants to notify the National Archivist about any future Signal communications at risk of deletion.

Federal law, including the Presidential Records Act, obligates government officials to preserve official communications for the public record; failure to do so can impede congressional oversight and public accountability.