A Miami judge ordered Donald Trump to give a deposition by December 11 in his defamation lawsuit against the BBC after an earlier appointment was cancelled. The president seeks 10 billion dollars over a documentary edit. The judge also set document-production requirements, while the BBC disputes liability and seeks evidence about his claimed reputational and commercial harm.
President Donald Trump must give a deposition by December 11 in his defamation lawsuit against the BBC, Britain’s public broadcaster. Federal Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué Lett issued the order in Miami on October 22 after an earlier agreed date was missed. Trump seeks 10 billion dollars. BBC lawyers said he had not adequately cooperated with discovery; Lett warned that failure to comply could bring sanctions, including dismissal.[1], [2]
The previously planned testimony did not take place on October 16. His lawyers cited matters of national importance, while BBC lawyer Charles Tobin said he was campaigning in Georgia that day. Lett allowed video recording of the testimony, with access restricted to lawyers in the case. The present discovery period ends on December 18; the district judge overseeing the lawsuit controls changes to that timetable.[1]
The case concerns a Panorama documentary edit joining different parts of Trump’s January 6, 2021 speech. The BBC acknowledged misleading editing but denies defamation. Lett gave the plaintiffs 30 days to produce relevant documents and permitted a request to Trump’s Florida club, Mar-a-Lago. The BBC links those documents to his claimed personal and commercial reputational harm. The rulings concern evidence gathering, with liability and damages still contested.[1]
