President Trump's defamation lawsuit against the BBC has been assigned to a newly appointed federal judge with a direct connection to the president. Jeffrey Kuntz, confirmed to the federal bench in July following Trump's April nomination, replaces another Trump-appointed judge overseeing the case, which centres on how a Panorama broadcast edited a speech Trump delivered before the 2021 Capitol riot. The case seeks $10bn in damages.

Kuntz's appointment to oversee the case has drawn scrutiny over potential conflicts of interest, particularly because he previously sat on an appellate panel that ruled favourably for Trump in a separate defamation case against the Pulitzer Prize board. The BBC has sought dismissal of the lawsuit, contending the programme involved no legal defamation and that a Florida court has no jurisdiction over the British broadcaster. Kuntz maintains that judicial ethics rules did not require recusal, and that his White House contact came after he had already rendered his legal opinion in the earlier case.