Judge Orders Trump to Sit for Deposition by Dec 11 in $10B BBC Lawsuit

MIAMI — A federal judge on Thursday ordered President Donald Trump to sit for a deposition by December 11 in his $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the BBC, warning that the case could be thrown out if he continues to avoid answering questions under oath.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué Lett issued the order from the bench during a hearing in the Florida case, backing the BBC's bid to compel the president to testify and endorsing the broadcaster's subpoena for membership records at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club. The ruling marks the most direct judicial intervention yet in a lawsuit that has turned into a high-stakes legal duel between the sitting American president and one of the world's best-known broadcasters — a flashpoint for US politics ahead of the midterms.

"Engaging in discovery is burdensome, but is a burden we undertake, especially if we file a lawsuit," Lett told Trump's personal attorneys at the hearing, according to CNN, which covered the proceedings. She made clear that filing a $10 billion claim brings scrutiny along with it — and that the plaintiff does not get to opt out of the process he started.

Depose by December 11 — or face dismissal

The order sets a firm deadline: Trump must sit for questioning by the BBC's lawyers no later than December 11. If he does not, Lett said he could face sanctions up to and including dismissal of the lawsuit — unless the discovery period, currently scheduled to close on December 18, is extended. Both sides acknowledged that the deposition could slip to a later date if the trial schedule itself is moved back.

The BBC asked the court last week to force Trump's appearance after he canceled an agreed-upon deposition date of October 16, citing presidential duties and matters of "national importance." The broadcaster's lawyer, Charles Tobin, told the court the excuse did not hold up: with two months left in the discovery period, he said, "we still haven't been able to depose the plaintiff."

Tobin told the hearing that Trump had actually been campaigning in Georgia on the canceled date. "He was participating in party politics and prioritised that over sitting for the deposition," Tobin said, according to multiple outlets. Trump's lawyers rejected that framing in court filings, arguing that the president's duties and security requirements must take precedence over litigation scheduling — and denying that Trump is deliberately avoiding the deposition.

The Panorama edit at the heart of the lawsuit

Trump filed the lawsuit in December 2025 in Florida federal court, accusing the BBC of defamation and deceptive and unfair trade practices over a documentary, "Trump: A Second Chance?" — a Panorama program that aired just over a week before the 2024 U.S. presidential election. The film spliced together two different sections of Trump's January 6, 2021 speech to supporters in Washington, making it appear, he alleges, that he directly urged violence before some of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol.

The documentary joined a section in which Trump told supporters to "walk down to the Capitol" with a later portion, in which he said "we fight like hell," collapsing two moments from the same speech into a single misleading sequence. The BBC has admitted the edits were misleading and apologized to Trump, though it denies that the program amounts to defamation. The scandal led to the resignations of the BBC's director-general and its top news executive — extraordinary fallout for one of the international media outlets that has defined British broadcasting for a century.

A spokesman for Trump's personal legal team said the lawsuit was aimed at holding the BBC accountable for defamation and "reckless election interference." The case is one of several Trump has filed against news organizations, part of what Reuters has described as a wider pressure campaign against coverage he dislikes — a legal strategy that has already reshaped the relationship between the White House and the press corps.

"We still haven't been able to depose the plaintiff"

The discovery dispute has revealed an unusual asymmetry: the man suing for $10 billion has, by the BBC's account, repeatedly resisted the basic obligations of being a plaintiff. In court filings, the broadcaster has accused Trump and his lawyers of dragging their feet on records requests and stalling the exchange of information that both sides are required to complete before trial.

Lett appeared unconvinced by the Trump team's account of its own document search. "I tend to agree with the defendant that it strains credulity that a thorough search has been [made] in order to determine that all of the requests have been responded to," she said, signaling impatience with claims that Trump has fully complied with discovery demands.

The BBC has said Trump is trying to delay his appearance until January 2027 — safely past the November 3 midterm elections — a characterization Trump's team disputes. But the judge's order removes the ambiguity: the deposition happens by December 11, or the plaintiff risks losing the case entirely. For a president who, as one report noted, has often avoided sitting for depositions, the order forces a confrontation he has long resisted.

Discovery opens Trump's books to scrutiny

The hearing also exposed the downside of Trump's litigiousness: his own business records are now open to the BBC's lawyers. The BBC is seeking financial records from Trump's Mar-a-Lago club and the web of business entities associated with him, arguing the information is necessary to test his $10 billion damages claim. On Thursday, Lett backed a BBC subpoena for Mar-a-Lago membership records over the objections of Trump's attorneys, who called the requests too broad and irrelevant to the case.

The proceedings showed, as CNN observed, how the president's habit of suing his critics carries built-in risks: every lawsuit he files gives the other side the right to dig into his finances, his records and, now, his sworn testimony. It is a dynamic that could complicate the wider web of federal legal battles in Washington.

Lett also rejected Trump's request to prevent his deposition from being videotaped — a ruling that means his sworn answers will be preserved on camera — though she said only attorneys in the case would be permitted to view the recording. The restriction limits the political spectacle but preserves the testimony's full evidentiary weight.

What happens next

Both sides acknowledged the December 11 date could slip if the discovery period is extended beyond December 18 — a call only the presiding judge can make. The BBC has said it would be open to scheduling the deposition later if the trial schedule moves too.

What is no longer negotiable, Lett made clear, is whether Trump will be deposed at all. The order — backed by the threat of dismissal — converts months of delay tactics into a binary choice: answer the BBC's lawyers under oath, or walk away from a $10 billion lawsuit. For a president facing a midterm election days away, the timing could hardly be more charged.

The case will be closely watched well beyond Florida, testing how far courts will go in holding a sitting president to ordinary litigation obligations — and shaping the next chapter of Trump's war with the press. The clock is now running.