Donald Trump’s lawyers said in a Wednesday filing that the president could appear for a deposition between 11 and 22 January next year. They said the BBC was “wrong to claim that President Trump is avoiding his deposition in this action.” Separately, the BBC asked the court to dismiss Trump’s Florida defamation lawsuit, arguing that Panorama did not meet the legal criteria for defamation and was not available in the US.

The lawsuit concerns a Panorama episode that edited together two different sections of a speech Trump gave before the riot at the US Capitol in 2021. Filed in Florida, the suit accuses the BBC of “intentionally, maliciously, and deceptively doctoring” the speech he gave outside the Capitol on 6 January 2021. The BBC apologized for the error and said the broadcast gave “the mistaken impression that President Trump made a direct call for violent action.”

In July, Trump’s lawyers conceded that they had no evidence the documentary was available in the US on the BBC’s BritBox subscription service, as they had originally claimed, or on the BBC’s website, BBC select or through US broadcasters.

Trump ultimately agreed to drop his lawsuit against BBC Studios, the BBC’s commercial arm, after the BBC argued that it had “no role in creating or producing the documentary.”

US Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué Lett ordered Trump to answer questions under oath by 11 December unless the discovery period was extended. Charles Tobin, a lawyer representing the BBC, said in court that “we still haven’t been able to depose the plaintiff” with two months left in the discovery period.

Trump canceled a previous deposition on 16 October, citing “matters of national importance” while he was campaigning in Georgia. Last week, attorneys asked Lett to compel Trump to face a deposition after the previously scheduled meeting did not take place.

On that day, Trump attended a midterms campaign rally in Dalton, Georgia, and a fundraiser at his property in Mar-a-Lago in Florida.

Under US law, a deposition is an out-of-court statement made under oath in response to questions and recorded for use in later proceedings. These sessions typically take place in a lawyer’s office rather than a courtroom, without a judge physically present. Depositions carry legal weight, are recorded verbatim by a court reporter, and their transcripts can later be used as evidence during trials.

Trump’s lawyers have offered a January testimony window, while the BBC has asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit and Judge Lett has set a conditional 11 December deadline. The underlying dispute remains over Panorama’s editing of the 6 January 2021 speech and the program’s availability in the US.