Judge Orders President Trump to Give Deposition in BBC Lawsuit by December

A federal judge ordered President Trump to sit for a deposition with lawyers for the BBC by December 11 as part of his ongoing defamation lawsuit. U.S. Magistrate Judge Enjolique Lett set the deadline during a hearing in Miami on Thursday morning. The judge stated that Mr. Trump must answer questions by that date or face penalties, which could include the dismissal of his lawsuit, unless the discovery period is extended. Mr. Trump was originally scheduled to sit for a deposition on a Friday, but his lawyers told the broadcaster late last month that he was unavailable due to matters of national importance. The BBC informed the court that on the day of the planned October 16 deposition, the president spoke at a rally in Georgia and later traveled to his Mar-a-Lago resort in South Florida for a Republican National Committee event. The president offered to sit for the deposition instead in the second or third week of January. Mr. Trump filed a $10 billion lawsuit against the BBC in December over a documentary that featured spliced-together portions of a speech he gave outside the White House on January 6, 2021. The lawsuit alleges that the documentary, which aired in October 2024 before the presidential election, misled viewers and falsely depicted his remarks. In November 2025, the BBC apologized to the president and stated it sincerely regrets how the clip was edited, though it disagreed that a defamation claim has merit. During the Thursday hearing, lawyers for both sides also discussed the network's subpoena for deposition testimony from former special counsel Jack Smith. The BBC argued that Smith could shed light on the January 6 speech, including whether the president knew his remarks could lead to violence, and noted that Smith does not object to the subpoena. Mr. Trump's lawyers argued that Smith lacks personal knowledge of the speech and that his testimony would be duplicative because he authored a final report and testified twice to Congress. The network is also seeking documents from Mar-a-Lago regarding membership and initiation fees, which the president's lawyers oppose. Discovery in the case is set to end on December 18.

Context

Defamation lawsuits involving public figures often involve lengthy information-gathering phases known as discovery, where both sides request documents and testimony from witnesses. Courts set strict deadlines to keep these legal proceedings moving forward. When a plaintiff brings a lawsuit, their own testimony is typically viewed as a central part of the legal process.