Politics
US Judge Orders President Donald Trump to Face BBC Deposition
The ruling sets a firm December deadline in the high-stakes legal battle over a disputed documentary edit.
By Headlinne · Compiled from reporting by BBC, Al Jazeera, Hindu and 3 others
A United States judge ordered President Donald Trump on Thursday to answer questions under oath by December 11 in his $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the BBC.
US Magistrate Judge Enjolique Lett issued the order in Miami after the British broadcaster complained that the president had refused to sit for a scheduled deposition on October 16.
If the president fails to attend the deposition by the December deadline, he risks facing sanctions, including the potential dismissal of his lawsuit against the network.
Trump filed the lawsuit in December 2025, accusing the BBC of deceptively editing a documentary titled Trump: A Second Chance to make it appear as though he incited violence.
The documentary featured clips from a speech Trump delivered on January 6, 2021, before a crowd of his supporters stormed the US Capitol to disrupt the certification of the presidential election.
Charles Tobin, a lawyer representing the BBC, told the court that the president had no valid excuse to avoid testimony and had instead prioritized campaign events in Georgia on October 16.
"No plaintiff is above the law," said Charles Tobin, a lawyer for the BBC.
In court filings, Trump's legal team argued that the president was not attempting to evade questioning but was constrained by pressing matters of national importance during his campaign.
Lawyers for the president proposed rescheduling the deposition session to a window between January 11 and 22, according to court documents.
The BBC has previously apologized for the documentary edit, acknowledging that the broadcast gave the mistaken impression of a direct call for violent action.
The error prompted the resignation of multiple senior executives at the network, though the broadcaster has denied causing real injury and asked the court to dismiss the case.
The legal action is one of several major defamation lawsuits launched by Trump against prominent news organizations regarding coverage he considers unfair.
It remains unresolved whether the president will sit for the deposition by December 11 or if the court will grant an extension to the discovery period.
Reporting from
- BBC NewsBalanced
Trump ordered to answer questions under oath in BBC lawsuit
- Al JazeeraBalanced
Trump ordered to sit for deposition in BBC defamation lawsuit
- The HinduBalanced
Judge orders Trump to give deposition in BBC lawsuit by December 11
- The i Paper
Trump sued the BBC for $10bn over its Panorama 'error' - here's how it's going
- RTE.ie
Trump ordered to testify in BBC defamation case
- NPR PoliticsBalanced
Trump must sit for a deposition in his BBC defamation lawsuit, judge rules
How this article was made: Headlinne wrote it with AI from the 6 reports listed above. Direct quotes are checked word for word against those reports, every number appears in at least one of them, and no other sentence is copied from one. Photos are from those reports and credited to them. Each report’s page on Headlinne links to the outlet’s original.