A federal lawsuit has been filed against five Cabinet members of the Trump administration, alleging that they used the encrypted messaging app Signal to discuss U.S. military strikes in Yemen.
The lawsuit was filed by the nonprofit organization American Oversight on Tuesday afternoon in Washington, D.C.
The lawsuit claims that the use of Signal violates federal law, specifically the regulations governing the preservation of government records. It asks a federal judge to mandate that the Cabinet members preserve the messages.
According to the lawsuit, emergency relief is needed “to prevent the unlawful destruction of federal records and to compel Defendants to fulfill their legal obligations to preserve and recover federal records created through unauthorized use of Signal for sensitive national security decision-making.” The suit names Pete Hegseth, Tulsi Gabbard, John Ratcliffe, Scott Bessent, Marco Rubio, and the National Archives and Records Administration as defendants. It calls for the court to declare the use of Signal unlawful and immediately order the Cabinet members to preserve the records.
American Oversight contends that the use of Signal violated the Federal Records Act and points to a report from The Atlantic, which “strongly suggests” that the Trump administration used Signal for other purposes as well.
