- President Trump criticized Judge James Boasberg after he was assigned to both the Venezuelan deportation case and a lawsuit involving the use of a Signal group chat by Trump officials. Trump called the system “rigged” and requested an investigation into the process.
- Trump accused Boasberg of having a personal bias and family conflicts, claiming the judge has been assigned multiple “Trump cases” in a way that seems unfair, and called for a “wheel” rotation system for judge assignments.
- Earlier in March, Boasberg blocked a deportation order for Venezuelan gang members, which Trump later criticized, calling for Boasberg’s impeachment.
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President Trump called for an investigation into what he’s referring to as a “rigged system,” after the same judge assigned to his Venezuelan deportation case has been asked to oversee the lawsuit involving the Trump administration’s use of a Signal group chat.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg was assigned to the case Wednesday, March 26, which involves allegations that top Trump officials violated their obligations under the Federal Records Act regarding the Signal messages about the recent attack on Houthi rebels in Yemen.
The lawsuit, filed by the government watchdog group American Oversight, argued administration officials violated the law through the “unlawful destruction of federal records” after the Signal chats were set to disappear after a certain number of weeks.
Boasberg has also been presiding over a lawsuit challenging Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act for authority to deport Venezuelan members of Tren de Aragua, which the U.S. has designated as a foreign terrorist organization.
What did Trump say about Boasberg on the Signal case?
President Trump posted his thoughts about Boasberg to Truth Social early Thursday, March 27.
“How disgraceful it is that ‘Judge’ James Boasberg has just been given a fourth ‘Trump case,’ something which is, statistically, impossible.”
Trump claimed Republicans couldn’t earn a win against the judge, especially a “Trump Republican” adding, “He is highly conflicted, not only in his hatred of me — massive trump derangement syndrome! — but also, because of disqualifying family conflicts.”
The president also called for a “wheel” type rotation for judges to be assigned to cases.
“Boasberg seems to be grabbing the ‘trump cases’ all to himself, even though it is not supposed to happen that way,” Trump posted.
Trump ended his post by criticizing the entire D.C. District Court, claiming he can’t get an “honest ruling.”
“Our nation’s courts are broken, with New York and D.C. being the most preeminent of all in their corruption and radicalism. There must be an immediate investigation of this rigged system, before it is too late,” he wrote.
According to Politico, a spokesperson for Boasberg said he was chosen out of the 20 jurists on the bench by the court’s random assignment process.
What happened with the deportation case?
Judge Boasberg clashed with Trump earlier this month when he blocked a 14-day deportation order for Tren de Aragua gang members.
Hours after Trump signed the proclamation, Boasberg issued a stay ordering the planes carrying the gang members to not leave the U.S. or turn around.
Trump then called for Boasberg, who was nominated by President Barrack Obama, to be impeached, naming Boasberg a “Radical left lunatic of a judge, a troublemaker and agitator.”
The administration claimed the planes were already out of U.S. territory when Boasberg’s order came down, but the American Civil Liberties Union claimed the administration may have purposefully defied the court order.
A U.S. court of appeals Wednesday upheld the order to temporarily block some of those deportations.
