Pete Hegseth Sued Over Signal Text Debacle

[Wicked Blue]

Source: HuffPost

A public watchdog group sued Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and a slew of other Trump administration officials Tuesday after a journalist revealed he was inadvertently added to a text chain discussing U.S. war plans.

The lawsuit, brought by the watchdog group American Oversight and first reported by HuffPost, requests that a federal judge formally declare that Hegseth and other officials on the chat violated their duty to uphold laws around the preservation of official communications. Those laws are outlined in the Federal Records Act and, according to lawyers for American Oversight, if agency heads refuse to recover or protect their communications, the national archivist should ask the attorney general to step in.

On Monday, The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg reported that national security adviser Michael Waltz inadvertently added him to a Signal group chat with more than a dozen Trump administration officials and aides including Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, homeland security adviser Stephen Miller and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. CIA Director John Ratcliffe told members of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday that he was also in the Signal chat. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard would not admit whether she was a participant, though Goldberg reported she was; instead, she said the matter was “still under review.”

As American Oversight lawyers pointed out in their lawsuit Tuesday, Rubio is also the acting archivist of the United States and, as such, “is aware of the violations” that allegedly occurred.

Read more: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/pete-hegseth-sued-over-signal-text-debacle_n_67e2f9b5e4b074f0c26efadc

[Deuxcents]

1. Interested to see how this goes..

[BumRushDaShow]

2. Here's the American Oversight info on this

American Oversight PRESS RELEASE - American Oversight Sues Trump Administration for Using Signal to Plan Military Operations

Link to SUIT (PDF viewer) - https://americanoversight.org/litigation/american-oversight-v-hegseth-gabbard-ratcliffe-bessent-rubio-and-nara-regarding-military-actions-planned-on-signal-messaging-app/

Link to SUIT (PDF) - https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/25868807/american-oversight-v-hegseth-gabbard-ratcliffe-bessent-rubio-and-nara-regarding-military-actions-planned-on-signal-messaging-app.pdf

[nilram]

12. And to donate...

https://americanoversight.org/contribute/

or,
American Oversight
1030 15th Street NW, Suite B255
Washington D.C. 20005

[Snarkoleptic]

3. We need to know why 2x treasury guys and other non-military/intel folks were on this chat.

n/t

[FakeNoose]

17. Yes, they should all lose their security clearances - ALL of them

[SomewhereInTheMiddle]

18. This looked like many of the NSC ...

The National Security Council includes the vice president, the secretary of state, the secretary of the treasury, the secretary of defense, the secretary of energy as statutory members. Other members include folk like the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the National Security Advisor, the DNI, and others.

This group had many, but not all, of them, plus some others.

And if they had been using a secure government communication system, as they should have been, they could not have invited the reporter by "mistake".

I hope this brings them all down, but I doubt it will.

[orangecrush]

4. Kick

[dchill]

5. SUE THEM ALL!

They're violating security protocols.

[malthaussen]

6. Interesting, I wonder how they'll establish standing.

They may have violated the rules (well, they did violate the rules, let's be real), but I wonder how plaintiff will establish that they have suffered damage by the act.

-- Mal

[onenote]

8. yep

[Wiz Imp]

9. Right. It's a slam dunk that they are guilty of what they are accused of

The only question is if the court agrees that the plaintiffs have standing to file the suit.

[BumRushDaShow]

15. A PDF of the suit is here

https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/25868807/american-oversight-v-hegseth-gabbard-ratcliffe-bessent-rubio-and-nara-regarding-military-actions-planned-on-signal-messaging-app.pdf

American Oversight frequently submits FOIA requests to government agencies and they are alleging that use of that app is a violation of the Federal Records Act (and Administrative Procedures Act) and that this means the records generated by the defendants could be deleted/unrecoverable for FOI.

This is the same org that FOI'd NARA and published the "fake Elector" submissions by 7 states - https://americanoversight.org/american-oversight-obtains-seven-phony-certificates-of-pro-trump-electors/

[malthaussen]

16. That sounds like a good angle.

Making it a question of FOIA deals with the "damages" question.

-- Mal

[Karasu]

7. "And a slew of other Trump admistration officials"...they better have sued everyone who was in that fucking chat.

Including Rubio, Vance, Miller, and Gabbard.

[Daleuhlmann]

10. Read That Today's First Session of that Senate Inteligence Committee Meeting on This Matter Was Very Govenment-Friendly

I don't expect much serious action by this Republican-controlled committee.

[littlemissmartypants]

14. It wasn't a...

"...First Session of that Senate Inteligence Committee Meeting on This Matter..."

The meeting was pre-planned. Its primary purpose wasn't the breech. It was the annual hearing on worldwide threats. It's a regularly occurring event.

[PSPS]

11. LOL. "the national archivist should ask the attorney general to step in" LOL.

[AmericaUnderSiege]

13. We can do that and more.

There are boards, professional organizations; hell, even social organizations. Take it as far down the goddamn chain as necessary to start rooting out these treasonous bastards from our government, starting with the ones who've committed it right in front of our eyes on behalf of their Russian-owned muppet masters.

Most importantly, have fun with it, and make sure they see you having fun chasing them.

These bastards are trying to get revenge on everyone who played a role in prosecuting their crimes, well, they've been committing so many new crimes we can make a sport out of suing and prosecuting them newly on a constant basis. Let the whole treasury of the goddamn Russian Federation be drained defending these scum and their lawsuits.