BBC asks judge to compel Trump deposition in $10 billion lawsuit
The BBC asked a federal judge to require President Donald Trump to set a deposition date after his lawyers canceled an October 16 session and proposed waiting until January.
The BBC asked a federal judge in Florida on Tuesday, October 13, 2026, to compel President Donald Trump to schedule and attend a deposition in the $10 billion defamation lawsuit he filed against the British broadcaster.
The request followed the cancellation of a session that the two sides had set for Friday, October 16. According to the BBC’s motion, Trump’s lawyers told the broadcaster on September 28 that the president was no longer available that day because of matters of national importance. The filing says his lawyers initially indicated that they would promptly provide another date.
The BBC told the court that no near-term replacement was confirmed. Trump’s team later proposed the second or third week of January, according to the motion as reported by The Guardian. The broadcaster objected because discovery—the pretrial period in which the parties obtain testimony and evidence—is due to close before then.
The dispute does not mean that a judge has ordered Trump to testify or ruled against him. It is a discovery motion asking the court to set requirements for a deposition. Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué Aytch Lett has scheduled a discovery hearing for October 22, when the scheduling dispute could be addressed.
The BBC said it had spent months seeking a secure location and had offered to keep the site confidential. Its lawyers argued that Trump accepted the normal obligations of civil litigation when he chose to bring the case. They asked the court to require his team to identify a date, a secure location and any safety arrangements needed for the testimony.
The broadcaster also told the court that discovery had been under way for nearly eight months, that seven BBC witnesses had already been deposed and that Trump remained the central figure whose testimony had not been scheduled. Politico separately reported Tuesday that Trump’s deposition had been canceled, while The Guardian reported the BBC’s motion and the proposed January timing.
Trump filed the case in December 2025 over the editing of a BBC Panorama documentary. The complaint concerns the program’s treatment of remarks he made during his January 6, 2021, speech in Washington. The BBC has apologized for the editing error, but the lawsuit seeks $10 billion and alleges violations including defamation and Florida’s law against unfair or deceptive trade practices.
The motion is procedural and does not decide the merits of Trump’s claims or the BBC’s defenses. A deposition would allow the broadcaster’s lawyers to question Trump under oath, subject to the rules governing the case. The court could set a deadline, impose conditions designed to address presidential security and scheduling, or resolve the disagreement in another way.
No new deposition date was publicly confirmed in the reports Tuesday. The next concrete step is the October 22 discovery hearing unless the parties agree on a schedule before then or the court issues a separate order. Any eventual ruling on the motion would concern the timing and logistics of testimony, not whether the BBC is liable in the underlying lawsuit.
Sources and image credit
Motion details, proposed dates and case background: The Guardian
Independent report that Trump’s scheduled deposition was canceled: Politico via Google News
Image: BBC Broadcasting House photograph by Les Hull via Wikimedia Commons (photographed June 20, 2018; resized to 16:9).