BBC asks Florida judge to compel Trump deposition in $10bn defamation suit

Left · 1The BBC has asked a federal judge in Florida to force Donald Trump to sit for a deposition in his $10bn defamation lawsuit against the broadcaster. 1 Left · 2According to the motion filed Tuesday in Miami federal court, the two sides had agreed that Trump would be deposed on Friday, 16 October, but on 28 September his lawyers said he was "no longer available for his deposition on October 16 due to other matters of national importance". 1 2 Left · 2Trump's lawyers said they would send a replacement date quickly but did not; Raw Story reports the BBC said that after it warned on 8 October that it would go to court, they said he had no availability before discovery closes on 18 December and floated the second or third week of January 2027. 1 2

Left · 1Raw Story, citing the filing, adds that Trump would sit only if the BBC agreed to extend discovery, and that the BBC first asked for dates on 10 July and followed up four more times; Trump's lawyers had proposed 16 October on 30 July, but only if the BBC held off asking the court to set a date. 2 Left · 2The BBC says that without a date and location it cannot send the formal notice required before a court can punish a party for skipping a deposition, and it asks the court to order Trump to confirm a date, name a secure location and logistics for his safety, and sit for the deposition; it had pledged to keep the location confidential. 2 1 Left · 1The BBC's lawyers wrote that, "Nearly eight months into discovery, after seven depositions of BBC witnesses, and with only two months of discovery remaining," it has no schedule to depose "the most central figure in this case: Plaintiff himself", and that Trump "chose to file this lawsuit and, in doing so, he accepted the obligations of civil litigation". 1

Left · 1Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué Aytch Lett has scheduled a discovery hearing on 22 October that is likely to touch on the issue. 1 Left · 1Raw Story reports the motion notes that Trump's team said in July he was the only person outside the BBC, its contractors and the production company likely to have relevant information, and cites an earlier case in which Trump's $100m suit against his niece settled the day depositions were due to be completed, without him having sat for one. 2 Left · 1Trump sued in December 2025 under Florida's Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act over a Panorama documentary that edited together parts of his 6 January 2021 rally speech; the BBC has apologised for the error. 1