Judge Orders Trump Deposition in BBC Case

A U.S. magistrate judge in Florida has ordered President Donald Trump to answer questions under oath in his defamation suit against the BBC by 11 December, unless the discovery schedule is extended. That is the event that matters here: not a ruling on whether the BBC defamed him, and not a dismissal of the case, but a discovery order forcing the plaintiff to show up and be examined.

The distinction is less glamorous than a merits ruling and more useful. A deposition is sworn testimony taken outside court, usually in a lawyer’s office, with a transcript that can be used later. If you sue, you generally do not get to remain decorative.

According to the BBC, U.S. Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué Lett issued the order after the broadcaster said it still had not been able to depose Trump with roughly two months left in discovery. The BBC’s lawyer, Charles Tobin, argued in court that the plaintiff had not appeared. The BBC reported that Trump cancelled a scheduled deposition set for 16 October, citing “matters of national importance” while campaigning in Georgia.

The underlying case was filed in Florida. Trump alleges the BBC defamed him through a Panorama episode that combined two separate portions of his 6 January 2021 speech near the U.S. Capitol, which he says falsely sharpened the impression that he directly called for violence. The BBC has acknowledged an editing error and apologised for creating what it described as a mistaken impression. It has also asked the court to dismiss the suit, arguing both that the programme does not satisfy the legal standard for defamation and that it was not available in the United States.

That second point is where the paperwork starts charging rent. The BBC reported that Trump’s lawyers conceded in July they had no evidence the documentary was available in the U.S. through BritBox, the BBC website, BBC Select or U.S. broadcasters, despite earlier claims. Trump also dropped claims against BBC Studios after the commercial arm argued it had no role in producing the programme.

Trump’s lawyers, in a separate filing cited by the BBC, said he could appear for deposition between 11 and 22 January and that the BBC was wrong to say he was avoiding testimony. That filing, at least on the facts reported, did not win the calendar fight.

For now, the court has done something courts occasionally enjoy more than speeches about principle: it set a date and told the plaintiff to attend.