In brief
A U.S. magistrate has mandated Donald Trump to provide sworn testimony by December 11 in his suit against the BBC over a Panorama segment that edited the former president’s speech before the Jan. 6 riot. The claim alleges the network doctored the footage to imply a direct call for violence. Trump’s counsel previously dropped a suit against the BBC’s commercial arm after the broadcaster denied any role in creating the documentary. The BBC has apologized and argues the program fails to meet U.S. defamation standards and was not broadcast in the country.
A U.S. magistrate has set a firm deadline of December 11 for former President Donald Trump to be sworn in and answer questions in his defamation suit against the BBC, a claim that centres on a Panorama episode that edited the speech Trump gave outside the U.S. Capitol in January 2021.
The suit, which was filed in a Florida court, alleges the broadcaster “intentionally, maliciously, and deceptively” pieced together two separate excerpts of the address so that viewers were led to believe Trump was calling for violent action. The BBC has issued an apology, stating the broadcast inadvertently gave that impression.
Trump’s campaign lawyers had previously cancelled a scheduled deposition on October 16, citing “matters of national importance” as he campaigned in Georgia. The court’s warning came after the BBC’s legal team, led by Charles Tobin, admitted the plaintiff had not been deposed despite the final two months of the discovery period.
The court noted that, unless the discovery phase is extended, Trump must comply with the deposition order. In early July, Trump’s attorneys conceded they had no evidence the Panorama episode was available in the United States, either through BritBox or the BBC’s website. Knowledge that the programme did not reach a U.S. audience led to a dismissal of the suit against the BBC’s commercial arm, which claims it had no hand in producing the documentary.
The BBC now seeks dismissal of the entire lawsuit, arguing the clip does not satisfy U.S. defamation criteria and was never distributed stateside. The case will continue to unfold as the deadline approaches.
