President Donald Trump must sit for a deposition by December 11 in his $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the BBC, a federal judge ordered on Thursday.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué Aytch Lett set the deadline at a hearing in Florida, after BBC lawyers told the court Trump had canceled a previously agreed October 16 deposition. The broadcaster’s attorney, Charles Tobin, told the judge Trump spent that day at a political rally and fundraiser in Georgia and characterised it as a delay.
Trump sued the BBC last December, accusing it of defamation over a documentary that spliced together parts of his January 6, 2021 speech. The broadcaster apologised for the misleading edit but denies it defamed him.
Lett warned that Trump could face sanctions or see the case dismissed if he misses the new deadline. She also backed the BBC’s subpoena for membership records at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club and expressed scepticism that Trump’s team had thoroughly searched for internal documents.
Neither Trump’s legal team nor the BBC immediately responded to requests for comment, according to the AP.
Source: Reuters
