A United States judge has ordered President Donald Trump to sit for a deposition under oath by 11 December as part of his ongoing defamation suit against the BBC.
US Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué Lett issued the order following a request from attorneys representing the BBC, who stated in court that they had not yet been able to depose Trump with two months remaining in the case’s discovery phase. In American legal proceedings, a deposition involves answering questions under oath outside of court to record statements for subsequent trial proceedings.
Disputed Speech Edit and Legal Arguments
Trump initiated the Florida lawsuit over an episode of the BBC current affairs programme Panorama, accusing the broadcaster of deceptively editing two separate portions of a speech he delivered prior to the riot at the US Capitol in January 2021. The BBC issued an apology for the editing mistake, acknowledging that the sequence created an incorrect impression that Trump had issued a direct call for violent conduct.
However, the broadcaster requested that the court dismiss the lawsuit, contending that the documentary does not fulfill the legal requirements for defamation and was not broadcast in the United States. In July, legal representatives for Trump conceded that no evidence demonstrated the program was accessible to American viewers via the BBC’s BritBox service, website, or domestic television networks.
Scheduling Disagreements and Case Background
Trump previously cancelled a deposition scheduled for 16 October, citing matters of national importance while participating in campaign events in Georgia, including a rally in Dalton and a separate fundraising event at Mar-a-Lago in Florida. In a subsequent court filing, Trump’s attorneys rejected claims that he was intentionally avoiding questioning and proposed alternative dates between 11 and 22 January next year.
The plaintiff previously agreed to drop BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the broadcaster, from the legal action after it was established that the subsidiary was not involved in producing or creating the documentary.
Source: BBC News
