A federal judge in Washington who has caught the ire of President Trump for his role in the case involving the deportation of alleged gang members will also preside over a case involving the administration's use of a messaging app to discuss military operations.
Chief Judge James Boasberg will oversee a new lawsuit brought against several senior national security officials after a reporter was unintentionally added to a Signal group chat where the planned bombing of Houthi targets in Yemen was discussed. Intelligence experts say the use of the chat group to discuss such operational matters is highly unusual. The White House denies that the matters discussed were classified.
While judges typically do not have control over what cases they are assigned, this latest assignment comes shortly after Boasberg has been in the spotlight while overseeing another high-profile case, this one involving the Trump administration's deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador.
Boasberg imposed a temporary restraining order on the action, but the administration is in the process of appealing.
Trump has criticized Boasberg's handling of that case, calling him a "Radical Left Lunatic of a Judge" in a post on social media and arguing that the American public elected him to curb illegal immigration.
"I'm just doing what the VOTERS wanted me to do," Trump said. "This judge, like many of the Crooked Judges' I am forced to appear before, should be IMPEACHED!!!"
The statement raised concern in the legal community and prompted Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to say in a rare statement that "impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision."
As the chief judge of a federal district court, Boasberg has dealt with legal matters involving Trump in the past. Notably, he ruled that former Vice President Mike Pence had to testify in front of a grand jury in the Justice Department's probe into the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
The latest legal challenge, this time over the Signal group chat, was brought by American Oversight, a watchdog group. The group alleges that the use of Signal violates federal law that covers the preservation of government records.
The lawsuit is directed toward the National Archives as well as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Secretary of State Marco Rubio — who were all present in the Signal group chat.
That discussion was first reported in The Atlantic by Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of the magazine, who was the reporter accidentally added to the chat.
NPR disclosure: Katherine Maher, the CEO of NPR, chairs the board of the Signal Foundation.
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