Trump ordered to sit for deposition in $10b BBC lawsuit – his previous $10b case against CBS ended in a $16m settlement

A federal judge in Florida has ordered President Donald Trump to sit for a deposition by December 11 in his defamation lawsuit against the BBC. If he fails to do so, Trump faces the possibility of having his $10 billion suit dismissed. US Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué Lett passed the order after the BBC complained Trump was stalling the case. The president was earlier asked to sit for a deposition on Oct. 16, but canceled the plan.

What is the case about?

The lawsuit stems from a BBC documentary that spliced together comments from Trump's speech at the Ellipse ahead of the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, after he lost the 2020 presidential election.


Trump sued the British public broadcaster in December last year, alleging that it had aired a "false" and "malicious" depiction of him in the controversial doc.

What does the BBC say?

The BBC has acknowledged that the edit was misleading and issued an apology, but the organization says that Trump was neither defamed nor did he suffer any damages.

While Trump complained that the documentary aired in the days leading up to the 2024 presidential election, the BBC said it never aired the program in the United States.

Trump's lawsuit against ABC

Over the years, Trump has filed numerous lawsuits against several major news outlets, and two of them have ended in settlements.

In December 2024, ABC News agreed to pay $15m to Trump to settle a defamation lawsuit after one of its anchors falsely said that he had been found "liable for rape".

The comments were made by George Stephanopoulos during an interview in March of that year while he challenged a congresswoman about her support for Trump. In 2023, a jury in a civil case had held Trump liable for "sexual abuse", which has a specific definition under New York law.

As per the settlement, ABC News was required to pay $15m as a charitable contribution to a "Presidential foundation and museum to be established by or for Plaintiff."

Trump's settlement with CBS

In July last year, Trump reached a $16m settlement with Paramount, the parent company of CBS News, over allegations concerning a pre-election interview with the Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.

Trump had filed a $10bn lawsuit against the company over what he claimed was a false editing of that interview, saying that it was done to "tip the scales in favor of" the Democratic Party in the 2024 election, which he won.