Latest news with #AmericanOversight
The Hill
10-07-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Watchdog launches records lawsuit to obtain Emil Bove communications
A watchdog group launched a records lawsuit Thursday to obtain communications involving Emil Bove, a senior Justice Department (DOJ) leader at the center of a recent whistleblower complaint. American Oversight seeks to enforce seven Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests it made in February and March, filing the new lawsuit in the lead-up to Bove's confirmation to a federal judgeship. 'Through Defendant's failure to respond to American Oversight's FOIA request within the time period required by law, American Oversight has exhausted its administrative remedies and now seeks immediate judicial review,' the lawsuit states. Bove has faced several controversies during his brief tenure. The whistleblower, Erez Reuveni, accused the judicial nominee of saying during a March meeting that the department may need to tell the courts 'f— you' if they try to block swift deportations under the Alien Enemies Act. Reuveni was fired from the DOJ's immigration section after telling a judge in a separate case that officials had mistakenly deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador's notorious CECOT megaprison. The FOIA requests include a demand for communications sent by Reuveni, Bove and other top department leadership that mention the prison, the Alien Enemies Act or related terms. 'Over the past six months, information has come to light suggesting that Mr. Bove may have violated his ethical obligations and acted to defy the Constitution and the rule of law, including, most recently, reports that he encouraged other DOJ attorneys to defy court orders,' the lawsuit notes. Another records request seeks the official's communications involving New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) and any notes from a Jan. 31 meeting about his criminal corruption case. Bove played a key role in pressuring prosecutors to drop the charges against Adams, sparking a wave of prosecutorial resignations before Bove himself signed the motion. American Oversight previously filed a bar complaint against Bove in New York alleging he potentially committed professional misconduct in the case. The watchdog group's lawsuit also seeks communications between Bove and Stephen Miller, the architect of the White House's immigration policy; any emails the judicial nominee sent mentioning ethics and employee discipline; any emails he had with tech billionaire Elon Musk or Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) personnel; and any communications Bove sent or received mentioning FBI Director Kash Patel. Bove had given the order to dismiss prosecutors who worked on the cases of those involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, and demanded a list of FBI agents who worked on such cases. One of President Trump's former personal criminal defense attorneys, Bove joined DOJ upon Trump's inauguration as its acting No. 2 official. Once Todd Blanche was confirmed to the post, Bove became principal associate deputy attorney general. Now, the president has nominated Bove to a judgeship on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Democrats scrutinized Bove at his confirmation hearing last month, and his committee vote is expected in the coming weeks.
Hindustan Times
21-06-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Federal Judge James Boasberg orders Marc Rubio to hand over Trump officials' Signal scandal messages to DOJ; Here's why
Federal Judge James Boasberg has ordered US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, also serving as acting archivist, to collect infamous Signal group chat scandal messages and transfer them to the Department of Justice (DOJ) for review. The data includes messages belonging to the top officials in the Donald Trump administration that might be at risk of deletion, Fox News reported. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US President Donald Trump(Bloomberg) Also Read: Tulsi Gabbard brutally mocked over 'religion' after U-turn on Iran nuclear threat The court was hearing the lawsuit brought by nonprofit government watchdog American Oversight. This came after journalist Jeffrey Goldberg claimed he was inadvertently added to a messaging chain, which included top national security officials in the Trump administration. They are allegedly planning a strike against the Yemen-based Houthis, according to Law & Crime. Also read: Donald Trump nominated for Nobel Peace Prize: Origin, impact and other key details Earlier, the Atlantic also published a story detailing the Signal chat, in which discussion took place regarding imminent plans to conduct airstrikes against the Houthis, Fox News reported. Judge Boasberg's statement The federal judge stated that the court records highlight that five officials from the Trump administration 'have thus far neglected to fulfill their duties' under the Federal Records Act. Notably, Boasberg is considered among Trump's judicial nemeses post his verdicts in the immigration matter. Judge Boasberg said American Oversight had a strong case against the officials, who used the encrypted messaging app to communicate for work purposes. He added that they even allowed the messages to auto-delete. The lawsuit asked for a preliminary injunction to force the Trump administration to update the record-keeping policies. It sought to preserve all messages while the matter was being heard, besides ordering Rubio to request Attorney General Pam Bondi to get the deleted messages. FAQs 1. Who appointed US district Judge James Boasberg? James Boasberg was appointed by former US President Barack Obama. 2. How did the Donald Trump administration respond to the matter? The Trump administration has denied any wrongdoing in the matter, insisting that the communication was not "classified," as per Fox News report. 3. Who was involved in the Signal incident? It included Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard among others.
Yahoo
21-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Judge says it's too late to order recovery of Trump officials' Signal messages
A federal judge said Friday it's too late to order the recovery of already-deleted Signal messages from key members of President Trump's Cabinet, largely rejecting a request from an oversight group to get involved. But U.S. District Judge James Boasberg did order acting National Archivist and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to ask Attorney General Pam Bondi to take steps to preserve Signal chats across the government at risk of being deleted. 'At this juncture, the Court largely denies American Oversight's slew of requests and will instead grant only narrower relief,' the judge wrote. American Oversight, a group that regularly files records lawsuits against the federal government, sued five top Trump officials following revelations that they discussed a military strike in a group chat on the encrypted messaging app — and unintentionally included a journalist. They had asked the judge to order the officials to preserve all Signal communications and recover chats that had been deleted. However, Boasberg noted, American Oversight's own 'emphatically stated' representation to the court was that destroyed Signal messages cannot be recovered and to issue the directive would be fruitless. The challengers' 'hardline stance' that deleted Signal messages are gone for good overshadows their later efforts to suggest recovering the messages might be possible, especially if the nation's intelligence agencies were to try. 'Although Plaintiff tries to walk that stance back — claiming in its Reply that recovery is feasible '[r]egardless of Signal's statement of policy,' — that belated assertion wilts in the face of its repeated claims to the contrary in both its Amended Complaint and Motion,' Boasberg said. Though Boasberg ordered Rubio to ask Bondi to act on the messages 'not yet gone with the wind,' he also noted that the attorney general has the discretion to ignore that request. Jeffrey Goldberg, The Atlantic's editor in chief, revealed the Signal group chat after he was unintentionally added to it by now-former national security adviser Mike Waltz. The Trump officials used the encrypted chat to discuss a strike on the Houthis in Yemen. More than a dozen top officials, like Vice President Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, were part of the chat. However, only five were sued: Hegseth, Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. Chioma Chukwu, executive director of American Oversight, said in a statement that the ruling affirms that Trump administration officials are not above the law and the records of their official actions belong to the American people. 'It should never have required court intervention to compel the acting Archivist and other agency heads to perform their basic legal duties, let alone to refer the matter to the Attorney General for enforcement,' she said. 'But because they failed to act, the court has now stepped in to order what the law already requires.' Chukwu added that the group expects 'immediate compliance.' 'And if they drag their feet or fail to act, we are fully prepared to pursue further legal action to ensure government records, which belong to the public, are preserved and protected.' Updated at 7:08 p.m. EDT Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Fox News
21-06-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Judge Boasberg orders Rubio to refer Trump officials' Signal messages to DOJ to ensure preservation
A federal judge on Friday ordered Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is also serving as the acting archivist, to collect any Signal messages belonging to top Trump officials that could be at risk of deletion and to refer those messages to the Department of Justice for further review. Judge James Boasberg said his hands were tied beyond that and that he could not do anything about Signal messages that had already been deleted. Boasberg's order came in response to a watchdog group suing five of President Donald Trump's Cabinet members, including Rubio, after the Atlantic published a story revealing their Signal chat discussing imminent plans to conduct airstrikes against the Houthis in Yemen. Boasberg, who has become one of Trump's top judicial nemeses because of his rulings in an unrelated immigration case, said the court record shows that the five Trump officials "have thus far neglected to fulfill their duties" under the Federal Records Act. The judge said American Oversight, the left-leaning watchdog that brought the lawsuit, made a strong case that the Cabinet officials have used Signal, an encrypted messaging app, to communicate for work purposes and that they have allowed the messages to auto-delete, likely rendering them permanently lost. But in the context of the Federal Records Act, Boasberg said he had limited options to address American Oversight's allegations aside from demanding that Rubio ask Attorney General Pam Bondi to ensure compliance with the law for existing Signal messages that were at risk of deletion. Chioma Chukwu, executive director of American Oversight, indicated in a statement that the group's lawsuit was over for now but that it was "fully prepared" to sue again if it found the Trump administration failed to comply with Boabsberg's order. "It should never have required court intervention to compel the acting Archivist and other agency heads to perform their basic legal duties, let alone to refer the matter to the Attorney General for enforcement," Chukwu said. The explosive Signal incident involved Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and others communicating about their attack plans in a chat group after then-National Security Adviser Mike Walz apparently accidentally added an Atlantic journalist to the chat. The Trump administration denied wrongdoing and insisted the communication was not "classified." Bondi dodged a question during a press conference about investigating the incident and instead doubled down on the White House's claims that the chat was merely "sensitive" and not "classified." The Pentagon inspector general launched an investigation into the incident in April in response to a bipartisan request from the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The Hill
20-06-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Judge says it's too late to order recovery of Trump officials' Signal messages
A federal judge on Friday said it's too late to order the recovery of already-deleted Signal messages from key members of President Trump's Cabinet, largely rejecting a request from an oversight group to get involved. But U.S. District Judge James Boasberg did order acting National Archivist and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to ask Attorney General Pam Bondi to take steps to preserve Signal chats across the government at risk of being deleted. 'At this juncture, the Court largely denies American Oversight's slew of requests and will instead grant only narrower relief,' the judge wrote. American Oversight, a group that regularly files records lawsuits against the federal government, sued five top Trump officials following revelations that they discussed a military strike in a group chat on the encrypted messaging app — and unintentionally included a journalist. They had asked the judge to order the officials to preserve all Signal communications and recover chats that had been deleted. However, Boasberg noted, American Oversight's own 'emphatically stated' representation to the court was that destroyed Signal messages cannot be recovered and to issue the directive would be fruitless. The challengers' 'hardline stance' that deleted Signal messages are gone for good overshadows their later efforts to suggest recovering the messages might be possible, especially if the nation's intelligence agencies were to try. 'Although Plaintiff tries to walk that stance back — claiming in its Reply that recovery is feasible '[r]egardless of Signal's statement of policy,' — that belated assertion wilts in the face of its repeated claims to the contrary in both its Amended Complaint and Motion,' Boasberg said. Though Boasberg ordered Rubio to ask Bondi to act on the messages 'not yet gone with the wind,' he also noted that the attorney general has the discretion to ignore that request. Jeffrey Goldberg, The Atlantic's editor-in-chief, revealed the Signal group chat after he was unintentionally added to it by now-former national security adviser Michael Waltz. The Trump officials used the encrypted chat to discuss a strike on the Houthis in Yemen. More than a dozen top officials, like Vice President Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, were part of the chat. However, only five were sued: Hegseth, Rubio, CIA director John Ratcliffe, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. The Hill requested comment from American Oversight.
