Judge orders Trump to answer BBC defamation questions by 11 December
A US judge has ordered President Donald Trump to answer questions under oath by 11 December in his defamation case against the BBC. The dispute concerns a Panorama programme that joined two parts of Trump’s speech before the 2021 Capitol riot, which the BBC said wrongly suggested he had directly called for violence.
Trump cancelled an earlier deposition, citing matters of national importance, and his lawyers proposed dates in January; they deny he is avoiding questioning. The BBC apologised for the edit and is seeking dismissal, arguing the programme does not meet the legal test for defamation and was not available in the US. Trump has dropped his claim against BBC Studios, the broadcaster’s commercial arm.
In short
- Trump must give sworn testimony by 11 December.
- His lawsuit concerns an edited Panorama programme.
- The BBC has apologised and is seeking dismissal.
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Trump’s strongest case is that editing together separate parts of a politically consequential speech may have created a misleading impression that harmed his reputation. A public figure should be able to seek redress if a broadcaster’s presentation crossed the legal threshold for defamation, and questioning under oath can help establish what happened and what damage it caused.
The case against
The BBC’s strongest case is that an acknowledged editing error does not by itself amount to defamation: the programme must also satisfy the relevant legal tests, including whether it caused actionable harm. The BBC says the programme was not available in the US, which may bear on those questions, and argues the case should be dismissed; requiring a sitting president to answer questions also raises legitimate concerns about scheduling and competing public duties.
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Originally published by BBC World as “Trump ordered to answer questions under oath in BBC lawsuit”.