Judge Warns Trump Defamation Suit Could Be Dismissed

A federal magistrate judge ordered Donald Trump to sit for a deposition by December 11 in his $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the BBC, warning that failure to meet discovery obligations could lead to sanctions, including dismissal of the suit. The BBC said Trump canceled an agreed October 16 deposition; Trump cited matters of national importance, while court filings said he attended a campaign rally in Georgia and a fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago that day. The judge also questioned whether Trump’s team had adequately searched for documents and supported the BBC’s effort to obtain records from his Mar-a-Lago organization related to his damages claims. Trump sued over a BBC Panorama documentary that edited separate portions of his January 6, 2021, speech together, creating a misleading impression that he urged violence; the BBC apologized for the editing, denies defamation and is seeking dismissal, including on jurisdictional grounds. The parties also dispute the BBC’s effort to depose former special counsel Jack Smith: the BBC says his evidence is relevant to whether Trump’s speech helped foresee or incite the Capitol violence, while Trump’s lawyers say Smith lacks personal knowledge.