A judge Republicans have looked into impeaching as Donald Trump claims he has ‘tried to usurp the power of the presidency’ will oversee a lawsuit involving the leaked administration group texts.
White House National Security Advisor Michael Waltz has faced intense scrutiny for accidentally adding a journalist to a Signal chat in which they were discussing sensitive plans to attack Houthi targets in Yemen.
American Oversight, ‘a nonpartisan, nonprofit watchdog that advances truth, accountability, and democracy by enforcing the public’s right to government records,’ is suing to find out if officials violated the Federal Records Act.
They argue that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other administration officials broke record retention laws by using a messaging app that allows communications to be erased.
Judge James Boasberg has been assigned to the case which will likely not sit well with the White House.
Boasberg has attempted to block Trump’s deportation flights of illegal immigrant gang members.
The move has led Trump to accuse Boasberg of trying to ‘usurp the power of the presidency’ while Republicans have argued for the judge to be impeached.
When DailyMail.com reached out to the White House for comment, they cited Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt‘s comments about Boasberg a week ago, calling him ‘an activist judge who is trying to usurp the president’s authority.’
A judge Republicans have looked into impeaching as Donald Trump claims he has ‘tried to usurp the power of the presidency’ will oversee a lawsuit involving the leaked administration group texts
James Boasberg (pictured), has been assigned to a case that argues White House officials broke the law by holding a war plan group text on Signal
Leavitt also called Boasberg ‘a Democrat activist’ whose wife donated more than $10,000 to the party.
‘And he has consistently shown his disdain for this president and his policies, and it’s unacceptable,’ Leavitt added.
Boasberg was initially appointed by George W. Bush but promoted to a higher court by Obama.
DailyMail.com has reached out to American Oversight for comment.
‘Judge James Boasberg is doing everything in his power to usurp the Power of the Presidency,’ he warned.
‘The danger is unparalleled!’
Boasberg had issued the temporary order after the administration flew more than 200 alleged gangsters to El Salvador.
When DailyMail.com reached out to the White House for comment, they cited Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s (pictured) comments about Boasberg a week ago, calling him ‘ an activist judge who is trying to usurp the president’s authority’
Trump mocked Boasberg as ‘a local, unknown Judge’ and added that he’s a ‘grandstander, looking for publicity.’
Boasberg on Thursday deemed a court filing from the administration ‘woefully insufficient’ because it was filed by a low-level staffer.
One day earlier, he hosted a contentious hearing with DOJ lawyers and said he wants to find out whether the government ‘deliberately flouted’ his order.
Trump claimed the ‘ridiculous’ rulings ‘cannot be for any other reason’ than publicity. He also called the judge ‘ridiculous and inept’ before exclaiming: ‘SAVE AMERICA!’
In a separate post, he demanded that nationwide injunctions be stopped permanently and called on the Supreme Court to help.
‘Unlawful Nationwide Injunctions by Radical Left Judges could very well lead to the destruction of our Country!’ he wrote.
‘If Justice Roberts and the United States Supreme Court do not fix this toxic and unprecedented situation IMMEDIATELY, our Country is in very serious trouble!’
Roberts, however, issued a stunning rebuke Tuesday after Trump called for the impeachment of Boasberg.
Trump mocked Boasberg (pictured) as ‘a local, unknown Judge’ and added that he’s a ‘grandstander, looking for publicity’
But Trump insisted that liberal judges are trying to assume the powers of the presidency ‘without getting 80 million votes,’ saying that the ‘danger’ they could cause is ‘unparalleled.’
‘A President has to be allowed to act quickly and decisively about such matters as returning murderers, drug lords, rapists, and other such type criminals back to their Homeland, or to other locations that will allow our Country to be SAFE,’ he added.
Boasberg expressed his own rage toward the Trump administration Thursday, claiming they missed a court deadline to provide information on the deportation flights.
The judge argued that it was filed hours late and that the administration ‘again evaded its obligations.’
He seemed particularly angry that the staffer who provided the six-paragraph declaration on behalf of the Trump White House was Robert L. Cerna, a regional ICE office director.
‘This is woefully insufficient,’ Boasberg wrote.
Cerna wrote that Cabinet secretaries are ‘actively considering whether to invoke the state secrets [act] privileges over the other facts requested by the Court’s order.’
The ruling that set off the fury came when Boasberg issued the temporary ruling that blocked the deportations of more than 200 people after the administration invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.
Boasberg will have to weigh in on whether Hegseth and Waltz broke the law by allowing reporter Jeffrey Goldberg (pictured) onto their group chat
The journalist added to a group chat involving several of Donald Trump’s most important cabinet members discussing war plans shot back at Pete Hegseth’s blistering denial of the story
Boasberg’s ruling came after a fiery hearing where he demanded the government declare when it thinks his own orders on the deportations took effect – after the administration said the deportation flights were underway and over international waters when it learned of the order.
Now, he will have to weigh in on whether Hegseth and Waltz broke the law by allowing a reporter onto their group chat.
Trump was upset when he found out it was Waltz who had accidentally included The Atlantic’s Editor-in-chief Jeffery Goldberg on a group text chat where top officials planned an attack on Houthi terrorists in Yemen.
Two months and six days into the Trump 2.0 administration and this is the first major scandal involving leaks – an issue that plagued the president’s first term.
In the hours following The Atlantic’s first release of messages on Monday, Waltz appeared most likely to take the fall.
Now, Democrats are calling for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s head over some of the information revealed in The Atlantic’s Wednesday release of texts.
Trump vouched for Waltz Tuesday at a White House meeting with ambassadors and said not-perfect technology was to blame.
‘He’s a very good man. That man is a very good man right there that you criticize so strongly,’ Trump said. ‘He’s a very good man and he will continue to do a good job.’
Trump vouched for Waltz (pictured right) Tuesday at a White House meeting with ambassadors and said not-perfect technology was to blame
The president also said in an interview with NBC that it was one of Waltz’s aides who inadvertently added The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief to the war-planning group chat.
During the ambassadors’ meeting, Trump said Waltz didn’t need to apologize.
‘No, I don’t think he should apologize. I think he’s doing his best. It’s equipment and technology that’s not perfect, and probably he won’t be using it again, at least not in the near future,’ Trump said.
When it was Waltz’s turn to speak he denied knowing Goldberg.
‘There’s a lot of journalists in this city who have made big names for themselves making up lies about this president, whether it’s the Russia hoax or making up lies about Gold Star families,’ Waltz told the room.
‘And this one in particular, I’ve never met, don’t know, never communicated with,’ he claimed. ‘And we are, and we are looking into him, reviewing how the heck he got into this room.’
Goldberg had written in the piece that he had met Waltz, a former Florida congressman, in the past.
‘I have met him in the past, and though I didn’t find it particularly strange that he might be reaching out to me, I did think it somewhat unusual, given the Trump administration’s contentious relationship with journalists – and Trump’s periodic fixation on me specifically,’ Goldberg wrote in The Atlantic.
It remains unclear how Waltz, or an aide acting on his orders, would have had Goldberg’s phone number if they weren’t acquainted.
Waltz said: ‘So, look, this journalist, Mr. President, wants the world talking about more hoaxes and this kind of nonsense rather than the freedom that you’re enabling and a key part of our sovereignty is open sea lanes and knocking the crap out of terrorists, which is exactly what your team, and Pete Hegseth, a good friend and fellow veteran, is leading the charge on.’
Hegseth has also claimed there was no wrongdoing and no war plans were ever texted.
Goldberg has since released the full contents of the chats he was privy to.
