The US Treasury Department initially stood alone in providing the court with a timeline of messages it was able to retrieve. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had received a preservation memo on March 26, as confirmed by his acting general counsel, which advised on the fundamental duty to preserve records. Consequently, images were captured from the phones of both Secretary Bessent and Daniel Katz, Bessent’s chief of staff. The preserved messages date back to 1:48 pm EST on March 15, 2025.
Anthony acknowledged that an Atlantic article covered discussions occurring from the 11th to the 15th, stating that nearly all related information was lost, except for the clear and specific data provided by the only cooperating defendant.
Last month, the Department of Defense informed the court that its attorneys were working to comply with the agency’s preservation rules. Secretary Hegseth’s communications team had been requested to forward Signal messages to an official DOD account. Upon further inquiry by the court, the DOD revealed on Monday that a search of Secretary Hegseth’s device was conducted around March 27, and screenshots of the current Signal application messages were preserved.
American Oversight’s lawyers urged the court to demand more precise responses, pointing out on April 4 that the government’s initial declarations were “vague and incomplete,” which raised doubts about its effort to save the chats. Recent reporting by Politico highlighted that as many as 20 private Signal chat groups were established by Waltz’s team involving several cabinet officials.
Anthony suggested the likelihood that defendants in the lawsuit were also part of these additional chats, exacerbating the problem significantly.
The Department of Justice opposed the court’s intervention, asserting that the efforts concerning the watchdog group’s claims were legally misguided. They argued that the public holds no “enforceable rights” to challenge the destruction of specific government records. The department deemed a court order unnecessary, indicating that the government was already making the requisite efforts. A partial version of the chat had been committed to a federal record-keeping system by at least one agency, it stated.
Among the newly revealed details, Monday’s disclosures offered various dates for preservation activities across multiple agencies, including the date when Hegseth’s phone was ultimately searched.
Screenshots of chats from Marco Rubio’s phone were captured on March 27, according to the State Department. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence reported capturing screenshots the following day, March 28. The CIA documented a screenshot of the chat on March 31, although it clarified that the image primarily depicted the name of the chat group and some member details, not any substantive messages.
American Oversight indicated plans to amend its initial complaint during a recent hearing. The group intends to petition the court to broaden its investigation to include the reported extensive use of Signal by high-level officials within the national security sector.
Chukwu stated that this attack on government transparency poses a threat to democracy’s foundation, expressing commitment to utilizing all available legal measures to uncover the truth and hold accountable those responsible.
