President Donald Trump missed a scheduled legal deposition with the BBC on October 16 by citing “matters of national importance,” but court documents show he attended a campaign rally and a fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago on that same day, the Telegraph reports. This development comes as the broadcaster pushes for a judge to force the President to provide a sworn statement in an ongoing 10 billion dollar defamation case.
The BBC legal team is frustrated by the delay, as they have been trying to schedule this deposition for some time before the formal court proceedings begin next year. In their latest filing in Florida, the lawyers for the broadcaster suggested that the President had been dragged “kicking and screaming” to avoid this meeting.
The corporation clearly disagrees with the justification provided by the President for his absence. According to the court papers filed on Monday, the President spent his time on October 16 addressing a campaign rally in Dalton, Georgia, for senate and gubernatorial candidates before heading to his residence at Mar-a-Lago for a Republican National Committee fundraising event.
Because of these activities, the BBC is asking the court to compel the President to pick a date for his deposition
They also want him to identify a secure location where the meeting can happen and provide details on logistics to keep him safe. This is a standard part of the discovery process in civil cases, where both sides get to demand documents and sworn interviews to gather information for their arguments.
The defamation case itself started in December after a report claimed the BBC programme Panorama edited a speech the President gave on January 6, 2021. The edit allegedly made it look like he incited the riots at Capitol Hill.
While the BBC has apologized for how that specific segment was edited, the organization still denies that it defamed the President. Part of their defense strategy is the fact that the documentary was never broadcast or made available on streaming services within the United States.
This legal battle has been messy for a while now. Previously, the legal team for the BBC complained that bodyguards prevented them from serving subpoenas to Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner. They even asked a judge if they could serve those documents via registered post instead of doing it in person. It seems like the BBC is having a hard time getting the cooperation they need to move their defense forward.
The White House has been approached for comment on these recent filings.
Published: Oct 20, 2026 12:15 pm