US judge rules Trump’s defamation lawsuit against BBC to go to trial in 2027
South Florida court rejects British broadcaster’s request to delay proceedings in which US president is seeking up to $10 billion in damages over misleading Jan. 6 speech edit
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LONDON — A Florida judge said US President Donald Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the BBC can go to trial in 2027.
Judge Roy K. Altman of the federal court for the Southern District of Florida rejected an attempt by Britain’s national broadcaster to delay proceedings.
He set a February 2027 trial date.
Trump filed a lawsuit in December over the way the BBC edited a speech he gave on January 6, 2021. The claim seeks $5 billion in damages for defamation and $5 billion for unfair trade practices.
The speech took place before some of Trump’s supporters stormed the US Capitol as Congress was poised to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election that Trump falsely alleged was stolen from him.
The BBC had broadcast the documentary — titled “Trump: A Second Chance?” — days before the 2024 US presidential election. It spliced together three quotes from two sections of the 2021 speech, delivered almost an hour apart, into what appeared to be one quote in which Trump urged supporters to march with him and “fight like hell.” Among the parts cut out was a section where Trump said he wanted supporters to demonstrate peacefully.
The broadcaster has apologized to Trump over the edit of the January 6 speech. But the publicly funded BBC rejects claims it defamed him. The furor triggered the resignations of the BBC’s top executive and its head of news.
Papers filed last month said the BBC plans to file a motion to dismiss the case on the basis that the court lacks jurisdiction and that Trump failed to state a claim.
Ahead of that motion, it asked the court to postpone discovery — the pretrial process in which parties must turn over documents and other information — pending a decision on the motion to dismiss. The discovery process could require the BBC to hand over reams of emails and other materials related to its coverage of Trump.
The judge said the motion “is premature” because it’s too early in the legal process for the BBC to request such a stay.
The Times of Israel Community.