Federal judge sets first hearing in Signal chat case

• The saga raises legal questions about whether using Signal, which deletes messages after a set period of time, violates federal record preservation laws or potentially the Espionage Act.

Driving the news: Government watchdog group American Oversight sued members of the administration Tuesday, alleging the group chat violated the Federal Records Act.

• American Oversight wants to prevent the messages in the chat from being deleted and to compel the government to "preserve and recover federal records created" via the chat.
• The case's initial hearing is set to take place at 4pm Thursday, according to the court docket.

The big picture: In a twist of fate for President Trump, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg was assigned to oversee the case Wednesday.

• Boasberg is also overseeing challenges to the Trump administration's efforts to deport alleged members of a Venezuelan gang to El Salvador.

• Boasberg's orders temporarily blocking the Trump administration's moves spurred GOP efforts to impeach him.

Zoom in: Trump took to Truth Social Thursday to rail against Boasberg's appointment to the Signalgate case, calling it "disgraceful."

• "He is Highly Conflicted, not only in his hatred of me — Massive Trump Derangement Syndrome! — but also, because of disqualifying family conflicts," Trump wrote, though he did not elaborate on what the conflicts were.

Go deeper: Calls for Hegseth, Waltz ousters grow in Congress over leaked chat