Secret Service agents declined BBC process server’s subpoenas, filing says
President Donald Trump urged a federal judge in Miami on Friday to reject the BBC’s request for the court’s help in serving subpoenas on his daughter, son-in-law and son as part of his $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the British broadcaster.
In the filing, Trump’s personal lawyers argued that the BBC is trying to gain “politically-driven leverage” over the Republican president by pursuing testimony and documents from Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner and Donald Trump Jr.
The BBC, the defendant in the lawsuit, had asked the court to step in and help secure the testimony and documents after the broadcaster’s own attempts to deliver the subpoenas ran into obstacles.
Those attempts began in May, according to Trump’s lawyers. A process server working for the BBC tried to serve subpoenas on Ivanka Trump and Kushner at their residence but encountered Secret Service agents who said they were not authorized to accept the documents.
Several days later, the same process server visited Trump Tower in New York in a failed attempt to serve Donald Trump Jr., the filing states.
U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Kuntz in Miami did not immediately rule on the dispute. Kuntz, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, inherited the case from another judge less than a week ago.
Court filings did not specify a reason for the reassignment.
A February trial date had been set by the previous judge.