A left-wing federal judge who is already locked in a feud with the Trump administration has been assigned to the lawsuit over the leaked Signal chat where officials discussed impending military actions against Houthi targets in Yemen.
U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg, an Obama appointee, has been assigned the lawsuit, which was filed by an organization that claims the Signal chat violated the Federal Records Act. The communications were released Monday by The Atlantic’s Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg after he had been inadvertently added to the chat.
The Trump administration is already locked in a feud with Boasberg over his attempt to prevent the president from expediting the removal of Tren de Aragua gang members to El Salvador through the use of the Alien Enemies Act.
“Judge Boasberg is a Democrat activist. He was appointed by Barack Obama, his wife has donated more than $10,000 to Democrats, and he has consistently shown his disdain for the president and his policies and it is unacceptable,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt charged in a press briefing last week.
Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX) is now seeking to impeach Boasberg over his injunction against the Trump administration’s expedited removal of illegal aliens believed to be tied to Tren de Aragua, a transnational criminal organization that the administration has designated as a foreign terror organization.
Boasberg has a history of stonewalling President Trump’s efforts while his wife has engaged in overtly partisan activity, The Daily Wire reported.
Boasberg issued a ruling in 2018 that limited the administration’s ability to detain migrant families who had entered the country, hindering Trump’s attempt to disincentivize illegal immigration by limiting the issuance of parole.
The Obama-appointed judge also granted leniency to the only official charged in connection with the Russiagate hoax. Boasberg spared former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith from prison after he had admitted to altering an email to an FBI agent concerning Trump campaign advisor Carter Page. Clinesmith had incorrectly labeled Page as not a source for the CIA, heightening suspicions of the Trump campaign.
Boasberg said that Clinesmith had been forced to endure a “media hurricane,” and only sentenced him to a year of probation and 400 hours of community service.
Boasberg’s wife, Elizabeth Manson, has donated more than $11,000 to Democratic candidates and committees, including to Hillary for America when she faced off against Trump in 2016.
Manson is also the founder of Meadow Reproductive Health and Wellness, an abortion clinic in northern Virginia. “In-clinic abortions are safe, simple medical procedures. At Meadow, our providers offer procedures up to 15 weeks of gestation,” Manson’s clinic writes on its site. “We offer both telehealth and in-person medication abortion services for patients up to 11 weeks of gestation.”
