Top Trump administration officials keep getting caught using personal devices and auto-deleting messaging apps to conduct official business — in clear violation of federal recordkeeping laws, including the Federal Records Act.
Following new allegations this week that Edward P. Martin, Jr., the head of the Department of Justice’s (DOJ’s) Weaponization Working Group, has been using personal devices and auto-deleting messaging apps for official business, we sent a letter demanding immediate action from the DOJ and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).
We urged Attorney General Pam Bondi and Acting Archivist Marco Rubio to immediately intervene, end the illicit use of personal devices, ensure their agencies comply with recordkeeping requirements, and attempt to recover any records at risk of being permanently lost. The Federal Records Act requires the DOJ and NARA to take swift action when federal records are at risk of destruction.
The allegations against Martin follow multiple other record-keeping failures by top Trump administration officials:
Last month, reporting revealed that Lindsey Halligan — Trump’s former personal lawyer whose status and authority as interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia are being contested — messaged a journalist about an ongoing prosecution over Signal, using the auto-delete function. We filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for Halligan’s Signal messages, and sent DOJ and NARA a similar letter demanding action to stop the illegal practice and recover any lost records.
Trump’s National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and his staff have reportedly used Signal and private email accounts to conduct government business. Waltz and his team also reportedly set up 20 Signal chats to discuss sensitive information with Cabinet officials this spring.
The now-infamous Signalgate scandal, in which top Trump administration officials used Signal to coordinate high-level, allegedly classified war operations, with auto-delete enabled. (Our lawsuit against the involved officials, including for Federal Records Act violations, is ongoing.)
DHS’s text message preservation policy
In April, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told us that it was no longer preserving officials’ text messages. Earlier this month, the agency backtracked and told us its earlier assertion was “erroneous,” but did not provide evidence that the texts we requested had been preserved.
Today, we will file a joint status report in our lawsuit against the DHS, over its failure to preserve officials’ text messages. Previous joint status reports included information about DHS’s current record preservation policy, which requires officials to take screenshots of text messages to preserve them.
On the records
Roping local police into immigration enforcement
We’ve been investigating the Trump administration’s expansion of Immigration and Custom Enforcement’s (ICE)’s 287(g) program, which allows local police to act as immigration agents. ICE claims that it has more than 1,180 active 287(g) agreements with law enforcement agencies in 40 states, including with multiple states’ national guards.
This week, we filed more than 30 new FOIA requests with law enforcement agencies ICE has identified as 287(g) partners in Texas, Florida, and Louisiana, including each states’ national guard. We’re seeking information that could help us understand how these agreements are implemented, including the number of arrests each agency has made and how many people have been taken into custody.
Learn more about our related investigation.
American Oversight in the news
Other stories we’re following
Trump wanted to abolish FEMA. His own advisers disagree. (New York Times)
Judge orders Trump administration to end National Guard deployment in DC (Associated Press)
Trump administration announces dismantling of parts of Education Dept. (Washington Post)
