Judge orders Trump to sit for BBC deposition by Dec. 11
publishers 47articles 51first reported 13 Oct, 20:49 UTCdeveloping since 14 Oct · 17 editionstop 25 #17
A federal magistrate judge ordered President Donald Trump to answer questions under oath by Dec. 11 in his $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the BBC, warning that failure to comply could bring sanctions, including possible dismissal of the case. The deadline could change if the discovery period is extended.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué Lett issued the order Thursday after BBC lawyers argued that Trump had delayed his deposition. The parties had agreed to an Oct. 16 date, but Trump canceled, citing “matters of national importance.” BBC attorney Charles Tobin told the court that Trump campaigned in Georgia that day and later attended an event at Mar-a-Lago. Trump’s lawyers proposed that he testify between Jan. 11 and Jan. 22 and denied that he was avoiding the deposition.
Trump sued over a BBC *Panorama* documentary that combined portions of his Jan. 6, 2021, speech delivered nearly an hour apart. He alleges the edit falsely portrayed him as directly encouraging supporters to attack the U.S. Capitol and was intended to influence the 2024 election.
The BBC apologized for the edit, saying it created the mistaken impression that Trump made a direct call for violent action, but it denies that the program was defamatory. The broadcaster has sought dismissal, arguing in part that the documentary was not available in the United States.
HOW THIS STORY WAS MADE
Written from 8 articles, 5 with the publisher's own text; 8 independent newsrooms once syndicated copies count as one; this version written 210 h after the record first saw the story; the editor kept it as written.
- Publishers
- 47
- Source articles
- 51
- Given to the writer
- 8, 5 with the article's own text
- Independent newsrooms
- 8
- This version written
- 210 h after the record first saw the story
- Second model (editor)
- kept as written
- Publication gate
- passed
- Human review
- none
WHAT THE EDITOR DID
The second model checked the writer's draft against the same sources and published it as written.
Written by a language model from the sources above, then checked by a second model that may only cut, attribute or correct. How it works →