A federal judge has ordered President Donald Trump to sit for a sworn deposition by December 11, 2026, in his $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the BBC, warning that the case could be thrown out if he does not comply. The ruling from U.S. Magistrate Judge Enjolique Lett in Miami came on Thursday, October 22, after lawyers for the British broadcaster accused the president of stalling to avoid answering questions under oath.
The Deposition Deadline
Trump had agreed to an October 16 deposition date but cancelled it, with his lawyers citing "matters of national importance." According to The Wall Street Journal, his legal team pointed to the conflict in Iran, unrest in the Middle East, the Russia-Ukraine war, and the White House Accord on Super Intelligence as reasons he could not attend. BBC attorney Charles Tobin disputed that account, telling the court that Trump was in fact campaigning in Georgia that day. "He was participating in party politics and prioritized that over sitting for the deposition," Tobin said, as reported by the Associated Press. Judge Lett set December 11 as the new deadline, just ahead of the December 18 close of the discovery period. The judge also rejected Trump's attempt to block video recording of the deposition, allowing the seven-hour session to be preserved on video.
How the Panorama Edit Sparked the Case
Trump filed the lawsuit in December 2025 in Florida federal court over the BBC Panorama documentary "Trump: A Second Chance?", which aired about a week before the 2024 U.S. presidential election. The program spliced together two separate portions of Trump's January 6, 2021, speech that were roughly 55 minutes apart, keeping the phrase "fight like hell" while cutting the passage where he told supporters to "peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard." The BBC later apologised, with chairman Samir Shah calling it an "error of judgment" and accepting that the edit gave "the impression of a direct call for violent action." A leaked internal memo by former BBC adviser Michael Prescott had cited the edits as evidence of potential political bias, and the fallout forced out two of the corporation's top figures: director-general Tim Davie, who had led the BBC since September 2020, and BBC News chief executive Deborah Turness, formerly president of NBC News, both of whom resigned in November 2025. Trump is seeking $5 billion for defamation and another $5 billion under Florida's law against deceptive and unfair trade practices.
Two Sides Dig In
Both sides have escalated the fight well beyond the original documentary. The BBC has accused Trump and his lawyers of dragging their feet on discovery and is seeking financial records from Trump's Mar-a-Lago club, plus tax returns and ownership records for roughly 400 corporate entities tied to the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, arguing the information is necessary to defend against the damages claims. Trump's lawyers call the requests too broad and irrelevant, and deny he is avoiding the deposition, saying his presidential duties and security needs must take precedence. The broadcaster is also seeking to have the case thrown out entirely, warning of a "chilling effect" on "robust reporting on public figures and events," and has challenged the Florida court's jurisdiction on the grounds that the program never aired in the state or in the United States. In July, Trump's lawyers conceded they had no evidence the documentary was available in the U.S. through BritBox, the BBC website, BBC Select, or American broadcasters, and Trump dropped his claims against BBC Studios, the corporation's commercial arm. The BBC has also subpoenaed former special counsel Jack Smith, and the judge directed the Justice Department to respond by November 2 to Smith's request for permission to testify. The case is currently scheduled to go to trial in February.
The deposition order sets up a defining moment for one of the largest media defamation cases in American history. If Trump sits for questioning under oath by December 11, BBC lawyers will get their first chance to test his claims of reputational and financial harm face to face. If he does not, the judge's sanction could end the $10 billion lawsuit before it ever reaches a jury. Either way, the outcome will set the terms for how far a sitting president can press a media company he accuses of distorting the truth.
Music in this post's reel: Kevin MacLeod - Movement Proposition (incompetech.com), licensed under CC BY 3.0