A US federal magistrate judge in Florida has ordered Donald Trump to sit for a deposition by 11 December in his $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the BBC.
US Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué Lett made the order at a hearing on Thursday 22 October, US time, NBC News reported. If Trump has not sat for the deposition by 11 December, he faces sanctions up to dismissal of the lawsuit, unless the discovery period is extended past 18 December, according to AP.
The order deals with procedure only. It is not a ruling on whether the BBC defamed Trump, and neither side has won anything on the merits.
Why the BBC Pushed for a Date
Trump cancelled an agreed deposition date of 16 October for a “matter of national importance”, AP reported. The BBC’s attorney, Charles Tobin, said Trump was campaigning in Georgia that day.
According to AP, Tobin told the hearing that with two months of the discovery period left, “we still haven’t been able to depose the plaintiff.”
“He was participating in party politics and prioritized that over sitting for the deposition,” Tobin said, AP reported.
Trump’s attorneys had proposed postponing the deposition until late January, which Tobin said was too late, according to NBC News.
Cameras Allowed, Smith Subpoena Undecided
Lett ruled that the deposition can be videotaped, over the objection of Trump attorney Alejandro Brito, NBC News reported.
She asked for more information on the BBC’s subpoena for former special counsel Jack Smith and will rule on it later, according to NBC News.
The two sides set out opposite views of Smith in a joint filing, AP reported. Trump’s lawyers argued that Smith “lacks any personal knowledge” of the issues. The BBC’s lawyers wrote in the same filing that it was “difficult to imagine a more authoritative source on these issues than Mr. Smith”.
The Documentary Behind the Case
Trump filed the suit in December 2025. It accuses the BBC of defamation and of deceptive and unfair trade practices over a documentary, “Trump: A Second Chance”, according to AP.
The BBC acknowledged that filmmakers spliced together quotes from different sections of Trump’s 6 January 2021 speech, AP reported. The broadcaster apologised for the editing, and its head and its top news executive both resigned, but it denies defaming him. The BBC says the documentary never aired in the US, NBC News reported.
Describing the Trump side’s position, BBC attorney Sasha Dudding said, according to NBC News: “this 12-second edit that aired in England costs him $10 billion.”
A spokesman for Trump’s personal legal team said in a statement, reported by NBC News: “President Trump’s powerhouse lawsuit is holding the BBC accountable for its defamation and reckless election interference just as he has held other fake news mainstream media responsible for their wrongdoing.”
The BBC declined to comment, NBC News reported.
The December Deadline
Discovery, the stage in which both sides exchange documents and other evidence, is scheduled to end on 18 December, and the BBC’s attorneys want Trump deposed before then, AP reported. Lett said only the presiding judge, Jeffrey Kuntz, can change that schedule, according to NBC News.
That leaves 11 December as the date by which Trump must sit for the deposition, unless the schedule moves.
Buzzline’s other court reporting is in the Crime & Courts section.
Sources: Associated Press via PBS News, “Judge orders Trump to sit for a deposition in his defamation lawsuit against the BBC by Dec. 11”, 22 October 2026 (https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/judge-orders-trump-to-sit-for-a-deposition-in-his-defamation-lawsuit-against-the-bbc-by-dec-11); NBC News, “Judge orders Trump to sit for deposition in his $10 billion lawsuit against the BBC”, 22 October 2026 (https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-sit-deposition-10-billion-defamation-lawsuit-bbc-jan-6-rcna605034)
Photo: Fred Romero, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Broadcasting House, the BBC’s headquarters in Portland Place, London, photographed in October 2016.
