A federal judge in Miami ordered President Donald Trump to sit for a deposition with lawyers for the BBC by Dec. 11, or risk penalties that could include dismissal of his $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the British broadcaster. U.S. Magistrate Judge Enjolique Lett set the deadline Thursday morning during a hearing in Miami, according to the Associated Press.
Trump was scheduled to be deposed Oct. 16, but his lawyers told the BBC in late September that he would no longer be available “due to other matters of national importance.” The BBC told the court that on that day the president spoke at a rally in Georgia, then flew to his South Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago, for a Republican National Committee event. The president has said he could sit for a deposition in the second or third week of January.
The lawsuit stems from a documentary that spliced together parts of Trump’s Jan. 6, 2021, speech outside the White House. The BBC has said it “sincerely regrets” how the clip was edited but disputes that there is a basis for a defamation claim.
The hearing also covered a BBC subpoena for testimony from former special counsel Jack Smith. Trump’s lawyers argue Smith lacks personal knowledge of the speech and that his testimony would be duplicative. Discovery is set to end Dec. 18, and BBC lawyers said they have not yet spoken with the president.
