Judge orders Trump to give deposition in $10 billion BBC lawsuit

A federal magistrate judge in Florida ordered President Donald Trump on Thursday, October 22, to sit for a deposition by December 11 in the $10 billion defamation lawsuit he filed against the BBC. The order requires Trump to answer questions under oath in a case he initiated against the British broadcaster.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué Lett issued the directive during a hearing in Miami. NBC News reported that failure to comply could expose Trump to dismissal of the lawsuit. Scripps News and Axios separately reported the December 11 deadline.

The order and the dispute over timing

The BBC asked the court to compel Trump’s appearance after its lawyers said he canceled an agreed October 16 deposition, citing matters of national importance. The broadcaster argued that he was attempting to postpone questioning until January 2027, after the current discovery schedule. Trump’s side had proposed availability in January.

According to NBC News, BBC attorney Charles Tobin told the court that Trump attended a political rally and a fundraiser after canceling the October session. That characterization came from the BBC’s lawyer in the discovery dispute; it was not a finding on the underlying defamation claims.

A deposition is pretrial testimony taken under oath. Lett’s order addresses when Trump must provide that testimony and does not decide whether the BBC defamed him, whether damages are owed or whether the case will ultimately reach trial.

What the lawsuit alleges

Trump sued the BBC in December 2025, alleging defamation and deceptive or unfair trade practices connected to the documentary “Trump: A Second Chance.” He seeks $10 billion in damages. The dispute centers on the program’s editing of remarks Trump delivered on January 6, 2021, before a crowd of his supporters went to the U.S. Capitol.

The BBC acknowledged that the documentary combined excerpts taken from different points in Trump’s speech, creating the impression that the remarks were delivered together. The broadcaster apologized for the edit. It has nevertheless denied that the program legally defamed Trump and has contested his claims.

The October 22 hearing also included a dispute over whether former special counsel Jack Smith should be questioned in the case. The BBC has sought testimony connected to Smith’s investigation of efforts to overturn the 2020 election, while Trump opposes that deposition. That discovery question is separate from Lett’s directive requiring Trump to appear.

What happens next

The immediate consequence is a court-set deadline. Trump and the BBC must arrange his sworn testimony no later than December 11 while discovery continues. A deposition can cover facts relevant to the claims and defenses, and lawyers may object to particular questions, but the witness ordinarily must still attend as ordered.

NBC News said it contacted the White House and the BBC for comment after the order. No new response from either was included in its initial report. The BBC’s previously stated position remains that it regrets the editing but rejects Trump’s defamation allegation.

The development is significant because it places a specific obligation on a sitting president in civil litigation he chose to bring. It also narrows a scheduling dispute that had threatened to delay the case, without resolving the larger fight over the documentary, jurisdiction, liability or damages.

Sources and image credit

Court-order reporting: NBC News, Scripps News and Axios.

Image: 2026 official portrait of Donald Trump by White House photographer Daniel Torok, via Wikimedia Commons; public domain as a U.S. government work. Cropped to 1600×900 with no text added.