MAGA melts down as judge who ruled against Trump is assigned leaked war plans lawsuit
U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg was randomly chosen Wednesday to preside over the scandal some are beginning to call "Signalgate."
On Monday, a bombshell piece in The Atlantic reported that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth shared secret war plans in a Signal chat that included a reporter among its members.
The story reveals the Signal chat among top officials in President Donald Trump's Cabinet who discussed classified military strikes against the Houthis in Yemen. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe disputed that the information was classified while testifying to the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday. However, they also maintained they couldn't discuss what was in the thread.
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The nonpartisan nonprofit watchdog organization American Oversight filed a lawsuit against Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and others on Tuesday, and Boasberg will oversee it according to the court docket. He's the same judge who also oversees the case involving the Trump administration's forced migrant deportations to El Salvador using the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.
Trump, his White House staff, and some Republican lawmakers have accused Boasberg of being a member of the left and a Democrat. In fact, Boasberg was appointed by former President George H.W. Bush.
Republican Rep. Brandon Gill (TX) introduced articles of impeachment for the judge.
Election lawyer Andy Craig simply laughed at the assignment.
Legal analyst and MSNBC host Katie Phang quipped, "Gotta love the random judicial assignment fairy."
She also remarked, "Judge Boasberg will dig his teeth into this." She included a Blue Sky post from an individual who refers to themselves as a former CIA lawyer. The post shows the full message from Hegseth in the Signal chat and the rules for what is considered classified beside it.
"You really can’t script this. The same week the Trump admin invokes the state secrets privilege to deny Boasberg info, he is assigned the lawsuit over the Trump administration’s apparent carelessness with state secrets," said Politico legal affairs reporter Kyle Cheney on X.
NBC News reporter Garrett Haake pointed to the assignment, saying, "In which all Washington news stories begin to converge into one massive singularity."
Some on the MAGA side called it "ridiculous" and unbelievable, while others alleged a conspiracy was afoot.