Politics
BBC asks court to compel Trump deposition in €8.6bn defamation case
Key Points
Trump's lawyers agreed to a 16 October deposition but later sought to postpone it until January. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has asked a judge to order US President Donald Trump to set a firm date to give sworn testimony in his $10-billion (€8.6 billion) defamation lawsuit against the network, court filings showed. "Nearly eight months into discovery, after seven depositions of BBC witnesses, and with only two months of discovery remaining, the BBC still has not been able to...
Trump's lawyers agreed to a 16 October deposition but later sought to postpone it until January.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has asked a judge to order US President Donald Trump to set a firm date to give sworn testimony in his $10-billion (€8.6 billion) defamation lawsuit against the network, court filings showed.
"Nearly eight months into discovery, after seven depositions of BBC witnesses, and with only two months of discovery remaining, the BBC still has not been able to depose, and does not even have a schedule to depose, the most central figure in this case: Plaintiff himself," the BBC's lawyers wrote.
The BBC's lawyers asked a federal court in Florida to order Trump to set a date for his deposition and to address the issue at a hearing scheduled for 22 October.
In a statement in response to the filing, a spokesperson for Trump’s legal team did not address the reasons for Trump's delay, but repeated its allegations against the BBC and said the president was holding the broadcaster “accountable for its defamation and reckless election interference just as he has held other fake news mainstream media responsible for their wrongdoing.”
What is the BBC accused of?
Trump filed a lawsuit against the BBC in December 2025, accusing the British broadcaster of defamation and deceptive and unfair trade practices over a documentary titled “Trump: A Second Chance.”
The 33-page lawsuit accused the broadcaster of presenting a “false, defamatory, deceptive, disparaging, inflammatory, and malicious depiction of President Trump,” describing it as “a brazen attempt to interfere in and influence” the 2024 US presidential election.
The BBC admitted to editing together parts of Trump's 6 January 2021 speech, making it appear he had encouraged violence at the US Capitol. The broadcaster apologised, and two senior executives resigned, but it denied defamation.
Trump's attacks on media outlets have seen him restrict access, badmouth journalists critical of his administration and bring lawsuits demanding huge amounts of compensation.
In April, a US federal judge dismissed a $10 billion (€8.5 billion) defamation lawsuit brought by the president against The Wall Street Journal.