A federal judge has ordered Donald Trump to answer questions under oath in the $10 billion defamation lawsuit he filed against the BBC, setting a deadline of December 11, 2026. The ruling, delivered from the bench by US Magistrate Judge Enjolique Lett at a hearing in Florida on Thursday, is the latest turn in one of the most unusual legal battles in modern media history: a sitting American president personally suing a foreign public broadcaster for billions.
According to the Associated Press, Judge Lett ordered Trump to sit for a deposition after the BBC accused him of stalling to avoid testifying under oath. The order comes after Trump's lawyers cancelled a previously scheduled deposition on October 16, 2026, citing conflicts with his presidential duties. Neither Trump's legal team nor the BBC immediately responded to requests for comment, per the AP's reporting.
The lawsuit, filed on December 15, 2025, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, centres on a BBC Panorama documentary titled "Trump: A Second Chance?" that aired on October 28, 2024, one week before the US presidential election. Trump alleges that the programme maliciously edited together two separate sections of the speech he gave at the Ellipse on January 6, 2021, splicing them into a single soundbite: "We're going to walk down to the Capitol ... and I'll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell." In his telling, the edit made it appear that he had directly called on his supporters to storm the US Capitol.
The BBC has admitted that the edit was misleading and has apologised to Trump, while denying that it is legally liable for defamation. In its apology, the broadcaster said the edit had unintentionally created the impression of a single continuous section of the speech rather than excerpts from different points, and had given the mistaken impression that Trump had made a direct call for violent action. The BBC did not offer financial compensation when Trump's attorney wrote to the broadcaster in November 2025 demanding a retraction, an apology and payment for the harm caused.
Trump is seeking at least $10 billion in damages, a figure that grew from the "at least $5 billion" demanded in the original complaint to approximately $10 billion in later estimates, according to a July 2026 court order. The case is one of several defamation actions Trump has filed privately against news outlets, which Reuters describes as part of a wider pressure campaign against coverage he dislikes.
The deposition fight has become a case within the case. After what the BBC's lawyers called "much foot-dragging," Trump's deposition was initially scheduled for October 16, 2026. But on September 28, his counsel told the BBC that "the president is no longer available for his deposition on October 16 due to other matters of national importance." Trump's team then proposed dates in the second or third week of January — after the close of discovery, which is set for December 18, 2026.
That framing drew a sharp response from the BBC. In papers submitted to the court this week, the broadcaster's lawyers revealed that the "matters of national importance" that kept Trump from his scheduled deposition turned out to be an election rally in Georgia and a fundraising event at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida, according to The Times. The BBC asked the judge to require Trump to confirm a firm date and secure location before the evidence-gathering period closes.
In a separate filing, the BBC's attorneys wrote: "Plaintiff chose to file this lawsuit and, in doing so, he accepted the obligations of civil litigation." Trump's lawyers, for their part, have said the BBC's discovery requests — including financial records from the Mar-a-Lago club and the web of business entities associated with him — are too broad and irrelevant to the case. They have also denied that Trump is avoiding a deposition, arguing in court filings that his presidential duties and security needs must take precedence.
The stakes for the BBC are enormous. Financial analysts have noted that a $10 billion judgment would be many times the BBC's annual income, and the case has been closely watched as a first-of-its-kind action by a sitting US president against a foreign news outlet. Legal analysts, including the Freedom Forum, note that Trump faces significant hurdles: he must first prove Florida is the proper venue, given the BBC's argument that the documentary was not viewable in the United States, and the First Amendment's strong protections for the press make defamation claims especially difficult for public figures to win.
The case has also played out against a wider political backdrop in Washington. This week alone, the president's legal posture has been a recurring theme, from a Canada tariffs lawsuit challenging his authority on trade powers to his administration's Medicaid fraud crackdown that withheld $1.2 billion from California and the recent indictment of Virginia state senator Louise Lucas on federal racketeering and marijuana charges. The BBC case, though, is distinct: it is a lawsuit Trump himself chose to file, and its progress now depends on his own cooperation with discovery.
Legal experts say compelling a sitting president to sit for a deposition is rare but not unprecedented, and the court will almost certainly insist on strict security protocols if the testimony proceeds. The BBC says it has already deposed seven witnesses and considers Trump central to the case, since the dispute turns on how the Panorama edit affected his reputation and business interests.
What happens next follows a tight timetable. Trump must complete his deposition by December 11, 2026. Discovery closes on December 18, 2026. And if the case survives, a provisional trial date sits in mid-February 2027. For now, both sides return to the evidence: the disputed edit, the financial records the BBC wants, and the under-oath answers the judge has now ordered the president to give.
This story is trending per news coverage from multiple major outlets, with the ruling reported within hours by the Associated Press and Reuters and carried by newsrooms worldwide.
The case lands as the corporation reshapes its services, with the BBC confirming the closure of BBC Three, BBC Scotland and Radio 4 Extra as linear channels next spring.
Sources: Associated Press, Reuters, BBC, The Times, Newsmax/Politico.