BBC asks judge to dismiss Trump suit over London production and no U.S. airing

Judge Lett orders Dec. 11 Trump deposition unless evidence deadline extended

The BBC has asked a federal judge to dismiss President Trump’s defamation lawsuit, arguing that the case was wrongly filed in federal court in Florida and that the documentary at the center of the suit was produced in London and did not air in the United States. BBC lawyers also said Trump had not plausibly alleged that the broadcaster aired the documentary intending to create a false impression that the president incited the crowd. The dismissal request comes as U.S. Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué A. Lett on Thursday ordered Trump to sit for a deposition by Dec. 11, unless the deadline to exchange evidence is extended.

Trump last year sued the BBC over the broadcaster’s airing of a 2024 documentary that featured his edited speech before the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. He accused the broadcaster of defamation and of violating a Florida consumer-protection law for leaving out a statement in which he called on supporters to peacefully march to the Capitol.

After Trump said the edit was unfair, the BBC published a retraction and said the edit had given “the mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action,” its lawyers said.

The deposition had previously been scheduled for Oct. 16. Lawyers for Trump canceled that session, saying “matters of national importance” had made the president unavailable. “Those matters include, but are not limited to, the conflict in Iran, unrest in other parts of the Middle East, the war between Russia and Ukraine, the White House Accord on Super Intelligence, and other matters that have significantly impacted the United States’ national security and economy,” Trump’s lawyers wrote. They said the president should be treated differently than a typical litigant might for scheduling purposes.

The BBC’s lawyers said they had been trying to schedule Trump’s deposition since July and had faced repeated delays. “There is hardly a more crucial and relevant piece of discovery in a defamation lawsuit than the deposition of the Plaintiff,” the lawyers wrote. Lett’s order sets Dec. 11 as the deposition date unless the deadline to exchange evidence is extended.

A BBC spokesman declined to comment. A spokesman for Trump’s legal team said the president was “holding the BBC accountable for its defamation and reckless election interference just as he has held other fake news mainstream media responsible for their wrongdoing.”

Trump has filed a number of defamation lawsuits against media outlets, including one against Dow Jones, the publisher of The Wall Street Journal. In that lawsuit, Trump alleged the newspaper defamed him in an article about a letter bearing his name that was included in a birthday book for Jeffrey Epstein.

Dow Jones has said it has full confidence in the accuracy and rigor of its reporting and would vigorously defend against the lawsuit. A judge dismissed Trump’s original lawsuit and hasn’t yet ruled on the publisher’s bid to dismiss a revised version.