US judge orders Trump to sit for a deposition in his $10 billion lawsuit against the BBC by 11 December
A federal magistrate judge in Florida ordered President Donald Trump to give a deposition in his defamation case against the BBC by 11 December or face the possibility of the case being dismissed, and ruled that it can be videotaped.
A federal judge in Florida on Thursday 22 October ordered US President Donald Trump to sit for a deposition in his $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the BBC by 11 December or face the possibility of the case being dismissed, NBC News reported.
US Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué Lett issued the order after the BBC’s lawyers said Trump was delaying. A deposition set for 16 October was cancelled for what was described as a “matter of national importance”. BBC attorney Charles Tobin told the court that this had been a political rally and a fundraiser. “He was participating in party politics and prioritized that over sitting for the deposition,” Tobin said.
Trump’s lawyers had proposed postponing the deposition until late January. Tobin said that was too late because discovery in the case is due to close on 18 December. The judge also ruled that the deposition can be videotaped, which Trump’s attorney Alejandro Brito had opposed, and said information requested by a BBC subpoena to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club on membership applications and fees falls within the scope of discovery.
Trump sued the BBC over a documentary that spliced together parts of his speech at the Ellipse in Washington on 6 January 2021. The BBC has acknowledged splicing the comments together but says Trump was not defamed and suffered no damages. The BBC declined to comment on the order, and the White House referred questions to Trump’s personal legal team, which did not immediately respond, NBC News reported.
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