Judge Orders Trump to Give Deposition in $10 Billion BBC Lawsuit
publishers 57articles 65first reported 13 Oct, 20:49 UTCdeveloping since 14 Oct · 17 editionstop 25 #19
A federal judge in Miami has ordered President Donald Trump to answer questions under oath by December 11 in his $10 billion lawsuit against the BBC, warning that failure to cooperate could result in sanctions, including dismissal of the case.
Judge Enjolique Lett issued the order after the BBC complained that Trump had declined to sit for a deposition and canceled a previously agreed October 16 session. The judge rejected a request from Trump’s lawyers to postpone the questioning until January and also denied their effort to prevent the deposition from being filmed. Access to the recording will initially be limited to lawyers in the case. Trump was separately given 30 days to provide documents requested by the broadcaster.
Trump sued the BBC in federal court in Florida in December 2025 over a documentary that combined separate excerpts from his speech before the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. He alleges that the editing falsely portrayed him as directly encouraging violence and seeks at least $5 billion for defamation and $5 billion under Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.
The BBC has apologized for the edit but denies that Trump suffered actionable harm. It has asked for the lawsuit to be dismissed and disputes the Florida court’s jurisdiction, arguing that the documentary was produced in London and was not broadcast in the United States. Trump’s legal team said scheduling the deposition had been constrained by matters of national importance.
HOW THIS STORY WAS MADE
Written from 8 articles, 2 with the publisher's own text; 8 independent newsrooms once syndicated copies count as one; this version written 234 h after the record first saw the story; the editor kept it as written.
- Publishers
- 57
- Source articles
- 65
- Given to the writer
- 8, 2 with the article's own text
- Independent newsrooms
- 8
- This version written
- 234 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 →