BBC ASKS JUDGE TO COMPEL TRUMP DEPOSITION IN $10BN LAWSUIT
The BBC has asked a federal judge in Florida to force Donald Trump to sit for a deposition as part of his $10bn defamation lawsuit against the broadcaster, according to a Tuesday court filing. The BBC and Trump's legal team had agreed that he would be deposed on Friday, 16 October, after the BBC's lawyers said they spent months trying to secure a location. On 28 September, Trump's lawyers told the BBC's counsel that the president was "no longer available for his deposition on October 16 due to other matters of national importance". Trump's team ultimately suggested he would be available during the second or third week of January, which falls outside the deadline to complete the discovery phase of the case. Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué Lett has scheduled a discovery hearing for 22 October that is expected to address the deposition dispute.
Trump filed the lawsuit against the BBC in December, accusing the broadcaster of violating Florida's Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act over a Panorama documentary that spliced together clips of a speech he gave on 6 January 2021, making it appear he had encouraged the Capitol riot. The BBC has apologised for the editing and acknowledged the error, a controversy that led then-director-general Tim Davie to announce his resignation. BBC lawyer Charles Tobin wrote in the filing that, nearly eight months into discovery and after seven depositions of BBC witnesses, the BBC still has no schedule to depose "the most central figure in this case: Plaintiff himself", with only two months of discovery remaining.
The BBC's motion states that Trump "accepted the obligations of civil litigation" by filing the lawsuit and asks the court to compel him to confirm a deposition date, disclose a secure location and complete the necessary logistics. The BBC's lawyers said they had pledged to keep the deposition location confidential. The outcome of the 22 October hearing is expected to determine whether a new date is set within the existing discovery deadline.