U.S. judge orders President Trump to sit for deposition in BBC defamation case

A U.S. magistrate judge has ordered President Donald Trump to appear for a deposition under oath by Dec. 11 in his defamation suit against the BBC. The case stems from a Panorama episode that combined two separate excerpts of a speech Trump delivered before the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

The BBC’s counsel, Charles Tobin, told the court that the plaintiff has not yet been deposed and that two months remain in the discovery window. Trump previously cancelled a scheduled deposition on Oct. 16, citing “matters of national importance” while campaigning in Georgia.

"We still haven't been able to depose the plaintiff," Tobin said in court.

Judge Enjoliqué Lett indicated that the deposition must occur by the Dec. 11 deadline unless the parties obtain an extension. Attorneys had asked the judge to compel the deposition after the earlier meeting was missed while Trump attended a midterm rally in Dalton, Georgia, and a fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago.

In a filing, Trump’s lawyers proposed that the interview could take place between Jan. 11 and Jan. 22, 2026, and argued that the BBC was “wrong to claim that President Trump is avoiding his deposition in this action.”

The lawsuit, filed in Florida, alleges that the BBC “intentionally, maliciously, and deceptively doctor[ed]” the speech, giving the impression that Trump called for violent action. The broadcaster apologized for the error and has asked the court to dismiss the case, contending that the program does not meet the legal definition of defamation and was not distributed in the United States. In July, Trump’s lawyers acknowledged they had no evidence that the documentary was available in the U.S. via the BBC’s BritBox service or other platforms. The president later agreed to drop the claim against BBC Studios after the corporation asserted it had no role in creating the documentary.