A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to preserve all Signal communications over the span of several days as a lawsuit proceeds following revelations that officials discussed a military strike in a group chat on the encrypted messaging app – and unintentionally included a journalist.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, who was randomly assigned to the case but has drawn Trump's ire overseeing another lawsuit, called his decision a “compromise order,” since the administration had said it would preserve any messages agencies find.

“We are still in the process of working with the agencies to determine what records they have, but we are also working with the agencies to preserve whatever records they have,” Justice Department trial attorney Amber Richer told the judge.

The ruling orders the agencies of the Trump officials who participated in the group chat that discussed a strike on........

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