A federal judge in Florida has ordered President Donald Trump to sit for a deposition by December 11 in his $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the BBC. The order comes after Trump missed a date he had previously agreed to. The judge warned that failure to comply could result in sanctions, including the potential dismissal of the lawsuit.
The lawsuit, filed last December, centers on an episode of Panorama that featured a misleadingly edited clip of a speech Trump gave in 2021. The suit alleges that the broadcaster edited together two different sections of the speech.
The BBC has accused Trump of stalling to avoid answering questions under oath, alleging he sought to postpone the deposition until January 2027. While Trump's lawyers requested that the deposition be conducted between January 11 and January 22, the court has mandated the December deadline.
Additionally, lawyers for both the BBC and Donald Trump have appeared in court to argue whether former special counsel Jack Smith should also be deposed in the case.