Florida federal Judge Jeffrey Kuntz has allowed President Donald Trump to proceed with a $10 billion defamation case against the British public broadcaster BBC, rejecting its attempt to dismiss the defamation claim on Tuesday.
However, in October, US Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué Lett ordered the president to sit for a deposition by December 11 after BBC lawyers argued that he was delaying his own appearance. Failure to meet the deadline could result in sanctions, including the dismissal of his lawsuit.
As per CBS, a deposition scheduled for October 16 did not take place after President Trump’s lawyers told the BBC he would no longer be available “due to other matters of national importance.” The BBC argued that the president instead attended a midterm rally in Dalton, Georgia, before traveling to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, for an RNC fundraiser.
Trump’s proposed deposition date falls after the discovery deadline
The Associated Press reported that President Trump’s lawyers subsequently proposed that he would be available for questioning by the second or third week of January 2027, weeks after the discovery period is scheduled to end on December 18, 2026.
A deposition is an out-of-court proceeding in which a witness answers questions under oath from lawyers representing both parties without the presence of a judge and jury. The testimony may later be used as evidence during trial. Should the president sit for a deposition, he will be questioned by BBC lawyers about the claims in his $10 billion defamation lawsuit.
The lawsuit centers on the broadcaster’s hour-long documentary, Trump: A Second Chance?, and alleges that the BBC presented a false and malicious depiction of the president in “a brazen attempt to interfere in and influence” the 2024 United States Presidential Election. The documentary featured an edit of Trump’s January 6, 2021 speech, splicing together separate portions of his address in a way that, according to the lawsuit, falsely suggested he directly encouraged his supporters to engage in violence before they stormed the US Capitol later that day.
This won’t be the first time Trump has faced a deposition. According to the Associated Press, in April 2024, Trump spent almost seven hours answering questions during his second deposition in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ civil fraud lawsuit over his company’s business practices. In his first deposition in August 2022, Trump invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination more than 400 times.
Published: Nov 12, 2026 03:15 pm