Court Orders Rubio to Refer Signalgate Record Violations to Attorney General Bondi

In response to nonprofit watchdog American Oversight’s request for a preliminary injunction to prevent further destruction of Signal messages in violation of federal record-keeping laws, Judge James Boasberg on Friday ordered five senior Trump administration officials to formally notify National Archives and Records Administration acting Archivist Marco Rubio of any Signal chats that may contain federal records at risk of impending deletion. The court further ordered the acting archivist to request enforcement action from Attorney General Pam Bondi to prevent the destruction of such records and notify Congress when that request is made.

The ruling, which compels notifications from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Central Intelligence Agency Director John Ratcliffe, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, comes in response to American Oversight’s lawsuit over the use of auto-deleting messaging apps by top federal officials to conduct official business — a practice the watchdog warned could permanently erase records of decisions made at the highest levels of government.

“Today’s ruling affirms what should never have been in question: Trump administration officials are not above the law, and records of their official actions belong to the American people,” said Chioma Chukwu, executive director of American Oversight. “It should never have required court intervention to compel acting Archivist Rubio and other agency heads to perform their basic legal duties, let alone to refer the matter to the Attorney General for enforcement. But because they failed to act, the court has now stepped in to order what the law already requires. We expect 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.”

In April, American Oversight sought a preliminary injunction in its Signalgate lawsuit following revelations that Hegseth used yet another private Signal chat to discuss sensitive government information — this time with his wife and brother, among others — and requested immediate court intervention to prevent further destruction of communications sent via the Signal messaging app in violation of the Federal Records Act (FRA).

In its final filing before the court’s emergency hearing, the nonprofit watchdog urged the judge to compel agency heads and the acting archivist to fulfill their legal duties under the FRA — to notify appropriate authorities of at-risk records and initiate action to recover them — stressing that the risk of irreversible loss demanded urgent judicial relief.