A federal judge in Florida on Thursday ordered President Donald Trump to sit for a deposition in his defamation lawsuit against the BBC by Dec. 11 or face the possibility of having his $10 billion action dismissed.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué Lett handed down the order after the BBC’s lawyers complained that Trump was stalling. He was supposed to sit for a deposition on Oct. 16 but canceled it for a “matter of national importance.”
BBC attorney Charles Tobin told the judge that matter turned out to be a political rally and a fundraiser. “He was participating in party politics and prioritized that over sitting for the deposition,” Tobin said.
NBC News has reached out to the BBC for comment. The White House referred a request for comment to a representative for Trump’s personal legal team, who did not immediately respond.
Trump filed suit against the British news organization last year, alleging it aired a “false, defamatory, deceptive, disparaging, inflammatory, and malicious depiction” of him in a documentary that spliced together comments from his speech at the Ellipse ahead of the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.
The BBC has acknowledged splicing comments from the speech together, but maintains Trump was not defamed and that he did not suffer any damages.
