A federal judge orders President Trump to sit for a deposition by December 11 in his 10 billion dollar BBC lawsuit, or risk seeing the case dismissed

The order came from the bench on Thursday. United States Magistrate Judge Enjolique Lett told the president lawyers that filing a lawsuit carries the burdens of discovery, and she set December 11 as the deadline for Trump to sit for a deposition with BBC lawyers, the Associated Press reported. She rejected the request to keep the deposition off video, though only attorneys in the case may see the recording, and she backed a BBC subpoena for membership records at Mar a Lago.

Picture is an illustration of a Florida federal courthouse.

Trump sued the BBC in Florida federal court last December, seeking at least 10 billion dollars. The suit says a Panorama documentary aired before the 2024 election spliced two separate parts of his January 6, 2021 speech together, joining his call to walk down to the Capitol with a fight like hell line from much later in the speech, and left out his call for a peaceful march. The BBC has admitted the edit was misleading, published a correction and apologized to Trump. It denies the edit was defamation and argues the case does not belong in a Florida court, since the program was made in London and did not air in the United States.

Thursday hearing was mostly about delay. BBC lawyer Charles Tobin told the court the broadcaster has sought the president testimony since July, that a deposition set for October 16 was canceled on September 28, and that Trump side proposed January, past the December 18 discovery deadline. Trump lawyers said matters of national importance made him unavailable and pointed to the Iran conflict, the Russia Ukraine war and other duties. Tobin answered that on the canceled date the president was campaigning in Georgia. Lett said it strains credulity that a thorough search for records has been done, and warned that sanctions, including dismissal, are on the table.

The deadline can still move if the district judge extends discovery. If it holds, a sitting president will answer seven hours of questions under oath, on video, in a case he chose to file, five weeks from now.