LONDON — The BBC has petitioned a U.S. court for assistance in obtaining documents and testimony from members of President Donald Trump’s family in connection with his $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the British broadcaster, according to court documents.
Legal representatives for the BBC argued in a filing Friday in federal court in Florida that Ivanka Trump, her husband Jared Kushner, and Donald Trump Jr. possess “personal knowledge” and likely hold records relevant to specific elements of Trump’s claims against the broadcaster.
The broadcaster has encountered difficulties serving subpoenas due to the fact that these individuals receive Secret Service protection and other security details, as noted in the filing.
President Trump initiated the lawsuit in December, seeking $10 billion in damages from the BBC, accusing the network of defamation as well as engaging in deceptive and unfair trade practices.
The core allegations relate to how a 2024 documentary edited a speech Trump delivered on January 6, 2021, prior to the attack on the U.S. Capitol by protesters. The lawsuit claims the BBC “spliced together two entirely separate parts of President Trump’s speech” in order to “intentionally misrepresent the meaning of what President Trump said.”
The suit further alleges this editing was “a brazen attempt to interfere in and influence” the 2024 U.S. presidential election.
While the BBC issued an apology to Trump regarding the misleading edit, the organization maintained that it had not defamed him.
In its most recent court filing, the BBC asserted that Trump’s family members had knowledge pertinent to Trump’s argument that “it would be materially false to imply that he incited violence” on January 6, 2021. The filing specifically cited that both Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump were present in the Oval Office while Trump was still revising his speech, and that Donald Trump Jr. spoke directly with his father following the outbreak of violence at the Capitol.
The filing indicates that the BBC requested Trump to accept the subpoenas on behalf of his daughter and son-in-law or to direct Secret Service personnel to permit service of the subpoenas, but he declined. As an alternative, the broadcaster has asked the court to permit service of the subpoenas via email and certified mail.
The presiding judge has granted Trump’s legal team until Friday to respond to the BBC’s request.
Trump’s legal team responded by stating that “the BBC is simply trying to distract away from their own obvious liability,” adding: “The BBC intentionally defamed President Donald J. Trump, and now the BBC is seeking to harass him, his family, and supporters by abusing the deposition process.”
A trial has been tentatively scheduled for February in the case.
In a recent development, a federal judge in Florida granted Trump a temporary reprieve from an order requiring him to provide details regarding his business empire’s financial performance as part of the lawsuit. U.S. District Judge Roy Altman agreed to suspend that order while he reviews an amended complaint from Trump that aims to narrow his claim regarding damage to both his business interests and reputation.
___
Associated Press journalists Kate Brumback in Atlanta, Georgia, and Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington contributed to this report.
