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President Trump has accused Britain's publicly owned broadcaster of defaming him by editing together parts of a 6 January 2021 speech, including a section where he told supporters to march on the Capitol and another where he said ‘fight like hell’.
A US judge has rejected the BBC's application to stay discovery in the $10 billion lawsuit filed by US President Donald Trump. The case relates to the broadcaster's editing of a speech, which Trump claims wrongly made it appear that he directed his supporters to storm the US Capitol, according to court documents seen by news agency Reuters on Tuesday.
President Trump has accused Britain's publicly owned broadcaster of defaming him by editing together parts of a 6 January 2021 speech, including a section where he told supporters to march on the Capitol and another where he said "fight like hell". He also claimed that the video omitted a lengthy section in which he called for peaceful protest.
The POTUS alleged that the BBC “put words in my mouth” by splicing together separate portions of his speech in a Panorama documentary examining the Capitol riots, along with stating that it was “intentionally, maliciously and deceptively” done by the broadcaster.
Additionally, in a separate order, the judge set a two-week trial date for February 2027, according to the agency report.
What did Trump allege?
Trump's lawsuit also alleges the BBC not only defamed him but also violated a Florida law that bans deceptive and unfair trade practices. The US leader is seeking at least $5 billion in damages for each of the lawsuit's two counts.
US District Judge Roy Altman on Wednesday rejected the British broadcaster's request to pause the merits-based discovery phase, during which both sides are allowed to collect evidence from other parties in the lawsuit, the court documents showed.
The judge said the BBC's application was premature nor had it shown that it would be prejudiced if the stay was not granted, the agency reported.
The broadcaster has previously asserted that it would defend the case and also seek to have the case dismissed, arguing that the court lacked jurisdiction because it did not broadcast the programme in Florida, and that the president could not prove damages because he was re-elected after the video was aired to the public.
The Trump lawsuit marked a dramatic escalation in a dispute that also saw the resignations of Tim Davie, the BBC’s former director general, and Deborah Turness, who was the head of BBC News.
English (US) ·