A US judge has ruled that Donald Trump must sit for a deposition with lawyers representing the BBC before the end of this year, in a defamation lawsuit the president filed against the broadcaster seeking $10 billion.
Federal Magistrate Judge Njuolikai Wright issued the decision on Thursday, requiring Trump to answer the BBC's questions by December 11 in the case centered on a Panorama documentary.
The film edited portions of a speech Trump gave to supporters during the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot.
A spokesperson for Trump's legal team said in a statement that the BBC has "a long history of deceiving its audience" in its coverage of the president.
"President Trump's strong lawsuit is about holding the BBC accountable for its defamation and reckless interference in an election, just as he holds other fake news mainstream media accountable for their misconduct," the spokesperson said.
People familiar with the matter said BBC executives increasingly believe Trump's side has been employing a strategy of delaying the litigation, and they are unhappy about it.
Trump's lawyers had previously said the president's busy schedule meant he would not be available to appear for questioning until next year.
BBC lawyers said in court filings that Trump's deposition had originally been scheduled for October 16, but less than a month before that date, his attorneys said the president could not attend due to "matters of national importance."
Yet on October 16 itself, Trump actually attended a political rally in Georgia to campaign for Republican candidates in that state.
As a result, the BBC asked the judge to force Trump to set a new date for the questioning.
The British broadcaster is also seeking to have the entire lawsuit dismissed outright on jurisdictional grounds; the BBC argues that the documentary at issue never aired in the United States, nor in Florida where the case was filed, and the court may rule on the jurisdictional motion before Trump is deposed.
The BBC declined to comment, and its attorneys did not respond to requests for interviews.
If the discovery phase — the stage in which lawyers for both sides exchange documents and various types of evidence — is extended beyond December 18, the deadline for Trump's deposition could also be pushed back.
Should that happen, the questioning could be postponed until January of next year, a timeframe Trump's lawyers previously indicated in court filings would be when the president becomes available.
The lawsuit stems from a documentary that aired in 2024.
The film spliced together different segments of Trump's January 6, 2021 speech to create the impression that he directly incited supporters to storm the US Capitol.
The BBC has since apologized for the matter.
The case is one of a series of legal offensives Trump has launched against the media.
He has already reached settlements with CBS and ABC; but several other lawsuits, including one against CNN, have been dismissed by courts.
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