Judge orders Trump to answer questions under oath in BBC lawsuit
Donald Trump must give a deposition in his $10bn defamation case against the BBC by 11 December or face possible sanctions, a US judge ruled.
A US judge has ordered President Donald Trump to sit for a deposition, an interview under oath, in his $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the BBC by 11 December. Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué Lett said in Miami on Thursday that if he fails to do so he could face sanctions, the most severe of which would be the dismissal of his case, unless the evidence-gathering period is extended.
Trump is suing the broadcaster over an episode of its Panorama programme that spliced together two separate parts of the speech he gave before the riot at the US Capitol on 6 January 2021. The case is in the discovery phase, in which both sides exchange documents and testimony that could be used as evidence.
The president cancelled a deposition scheduled for 16 October, citing matters of national importance. Charles Tobin, a lawyer for the BBC, told the court that Trump had in fact spent that day campaigning in Georgia and at a fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago, and that with two months of discovery left he had still not been questioned.
Trump's lawyers said in a filing that he could be available between 11 and 22 January and rejected the claim that he was avoiding the interview. Depositions take place outside the courtroom but are recorded word for word, and the transcripts can later be used at trial.