A Florida judge has ruled that Donald Trump must hand over financial records sought by the BBC as it defends itself against his $10bn (£7.5bn) defamation lawsuit over a Panorama documentary. The order, issued during the first hearing in the case, compels the release of records held by the Donald J Trump Revocable Trust, which manages his businesses while he serves as president, and marks a partial win for the BBC as it seeks evidence to counter his claim of financial loss caused by the programme's editing of a speech he gave on 6 January 2021.

Judge Enjoliqué Lett's ruling, made at Tuesday's hearing in Miami, can still be appealed, and she gave a split decision on a separate BBC request for documents relating to the Capitol riot itself. The case currently centres on the discovery process, with the BBC's lawyers saying they had handed over 87,000 pages of documents compared with what they called a "sham production" of just 735 pages from Trump's side, while Trump's counsel accused the BBC of mounting an "oppressive" and harassing "fishing expedition" against former officials. Much of the argument focused on a November letter in which BBC chairman Samir Shah apologised for the Panorama clip, which Trump's team characterised as an admission; the BBC has separately asked for the whole case to be dismissed on the grounds the documentary was never broadcast in the US, a request the court has yet to decide.