US Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué Lett said Donald Trump must answer questions under oath in his defamation lawsuit against the BBC by 11 December, BBC reports.
Trump is suing the BBC over an episode of Panorama that edited together two different sections of a speech he gave before the riot at the US Capitol in 2021.
Trump cancelled a previous deposition on 16 October, citing “matters of national importance”.
But a lawyer representing the BBC said in court that Trump was campaigning in Georgia that day and had “prioritised that” over answering their questions.
Judge Enjoliqué Lett said Trump must sit for the deposition by 11 December or face sanctions — the most extreme of which could be the dismissal of the lawsuit — unless the discovery period is extended.
Trump’s lawsuit against the BBC is in the “discovery” phase, in which the two sides provide internal or other records that could form evidence, the outlet writes.
Charles Tobin, a lawyer for the BBC, told a court in Miami on Thursday that with two months left in the discovery period, Trump had still not completed a deposition.
Previously
On 16 October, BBC asked a judge to dismiss Donald Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit.
US President Donald Trump sued BBC in December 2025, demanding $10 billion in damages over edited clips of a 6 January 2021 speech that made it appear he directed supporters to storm the US Capitol.
BBC later apologised to Donald Trump for a Panorama episode that spliced parts of his 6 January 2021 speech together, but rejected his demands for compensation.
BBC Director General Tim Davie and Head of News Deborah Turness resigned in view of the controversy around the editing of Donald Trump’s speech in a Panorama episode.
On 12 January 2026, BBC asked a federal judge in Miami (USA) to pause the exchange of evidence in the suit filed by US President Donald Trump.