MIAMI - The BBC has asked a judge to order US President Donald Trump to set a firm date to give sworn testimony in his US$10 billion defamation lawsuit against the network, court filings showed.
Trump’s lawyers had previously agreed for the president to sit for a deposition on Oct 16, but said late in September it was no longer possible and proposed rescheduling to January, the British broadcaster’s legal team wrote in a court filing on Oct 13.
The BBC’s lawyers asked for the Florida federal court to compel Trump to set a date for the deposition and to take up the issue at an Oct 22 hearing scheduled to discuss other procedural issues.
The case – which revolves around a BBC documentary’s editing of a Trump speech before his supporters stormed the US Capitol on Jan 6, 2021 – is set to go to trial in February 2027.
“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.
Trump filed his suit against the BBC in December 2025 and is seeking at least US$5 billion each for two counts.
The BBC documentary at issue spliced together two separate sections of Trump’s speech on Jan 6, 2021, making it appear that he had explicitly urged supporters to attack the US Capitol.
While the BBC has apologised for the incident, which prompted the resignation of multiple senior executives, the broadcaster has denied it caused Trump any real injury and has moved for the case to be dismissed. AFP