Washington DC - A federal judge on Thursday ruled that all messages exchanged in a Signal chat between high-ranking Trump administration officials about the bombing of Yemen – to which a journalist was added by mistake – must be saved.

The chat had originally been set up so that messages would be automatically deleted after a week.

Later, White House National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, changed the automatic deletion period to four weeks.

The nonprofit advocacy group American Oversight on Tuesday filed a lawsuit to preserve the messages on the grounds that disappearing messages violate rules for storing government records.

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Judge James Boasberg agreed, ordering the defendants to do everything they can to preserve the thread

Waltz accidentally invited Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic magazine, to a group chat called "Houthis PC Small Group."

Goldberg was able to read live plans about upcoming US airstrikes of Yemen, which involved top cabinet members, includes Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard.

On March 15, the journalist said he was waiting in a supermarket parking lot to see if the bombs coordinated on the chat would actually fall – they did, killing dozens of civilians, including children.

Goldberg has since published more messages from the chat, including screenshots.