Somehow, someway, the story of left-wing "journalist" Jeffrey Goldberg being added to a national security Signal chat has managed to get dumber. A government "watchdog group" is now suing Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, DNI Tulsi Gabbard, and other Trump officials, claiming they violated federal records laws.

As RedState reported, Goldberg was accidentally (as far as we know) added to an encrypted discussion about then-incoming attacks on Houthi terrorists. At this point, it's not especially clear how that happened. NSA Michael Waltz was administering the group but indicated during an interview on Tuesday evening that he doesn't know Goldberg. Multiple Trump officials have testified under oath that no classified material was shared. 

SEE: We Need to Talk About Jeffrey Goldberg Being Added to a National Security Signal Chat

Mike Waltz Admits 'We Made a Mistake'; How Goldberg Was Added to Signal Chat Remains Under Investigation

"American Oversight," which I'll admit to not being familiar with, has now filed a lawsuit alleging that federal records laws were broken. 

The big picture: American Oversight alleges in its lawsuit that the chat on the unclassified commercial app that mistakenly included The Atlantic's editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg violated federal records laws.

Driving the news: The suit that was filed in a D.C. federal court names Hegseth and officials including national intelligence director Tulsi Gabbard, CIA director John Ratcliffe, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Marco Rubio in his capacities as secretary of state and acting archivist.

• American Oversight said in a statement it's seeking to "recover unlawfully deleted messages and prevent further destruction."
• "The Federal Records Act requires federal officials to preserve communications related to official government business," the nonprofit said.
• "Generally, agencies ensure retention of messages sent on apps like Signal by setting policies requiring officials and personnel to forward them to official systems for proper archival or take other steps to preserve their content."

There are certainly legalities at play when it comes to record retention, but there's also no indication that the law wasn't followed here. Does "American Oversight" have some evidence that this Signal chat wasn't properly archived? I'd be curious how they could even know that without making a FOIA request and waiting for an answer the way everyone else does. The speed with which this lawsuit was filed seems more like a PR ploy by the ethics group than genuine concern. 

Of course, "American Oversight" has no doubt been paying attention to how the judiciary has been operating during President Donald Trump's second term. A litany of questionable decisions have been handed down by judges who seem more than happy to wear their political biases on their sleeves. This "ethics group" likely sees this as a win-win situation. Even if they fail in the end to produce anything notable, they are likely to generate some press and cause headaches for the Trump administration in the short term. 

"American Oversight" interim executive director Chioma Chukwu went so far as to claim crimes may have been committed by Hegseth and the other officials in the chat.

What they're saying: American Oversight interim executive director Chioma Chukwu said in a statement the "reported disclosure of sensitive military information in a Signal group chat that included a journalist is a five-alarm fire for government accountability and potentially a crime."

When I saw this story break, I joked that some judge was going to order Trump's entire national security cabinet to resign over this. While that won't happen, you can expect some further shenanigans to play out. Who knows what the judge overseeing this lawsuit will come up with? 

Wrapping up, I do think everybody who works in the Trump administration needs to take this as a cautionary tale. Their political opponents are looking for any opening to attack them, both through the press and the judicial system. All precautions must be taken to ensure this or something similar doesn't happen again.

Update - 9:40 a.m. Eastern:

In an ironic twist of fate, Judge James Boasberg has apparently been assigned the case:

JUST IN: Judge James Boasberg has been assigned to the Signalgate lawsuit. pic.twitter.com/nrLv9EQNyO

— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) March 26, 2025

Editor's Note: The mainstream media continues to deflect, gaslight, spin, and lie.  

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