Trump ordered to sit for deposition in BBC defamation lawsuit

Judge says Trump must sit for questioning from a BBC lawyer by December 11 or face possible dismissal of lawsuit.

President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in in Pendleton, South Carolina, on October 21, 2026 [Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP Photo]

A federal judge in the United States has ordered President Donald Trump to sit for a deposition as part of his $10bn defamation lawsuit against the British broadcaster BBC.

On Thursday, US Magistrate Judge Enjolique Lett ruled that Trump would be required to answer questions under oath in a session with the BBC ‘s lawyers.

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The deposition is scheduled to take place no later than December 11, or Trump could face sanctions, including the possible dismissal of the lawsuit.

Trump had previously been scheduled to sit for deposition on October 16 but had cancelled due to a “matter of national importance”.

Charles Tobin, a lawyer for the BBC, said that the president was in fact campaigning in the state of Georgia on that day.

“He was participating in party politics and prioritised that over sitting for the deposition,” Tobin said.

The BBC lawsuit is one of several he has launched against news outlets over coverage he dislikes or casts as unfair.

Trump is currently enmeshed in another $10bn defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal that he refiled in May after it was previously dismissed. Another defamation case seeks $15bn in damages from The New York Times and Penguin Random House, a book publisher.

That streak of litigation has alarmed press freedom advocates who say that the president frequently uses government pressure and legal threats to shape coverage in his favour.

His case against the BBC centres on a documentary it aired, titled Trump: A Second Chance.

The documentary features clips of a speech Trump made on January 6, 2021, the day that Trump supporters later attacked the US Capitol.

Trump has said that a clip from his speech was misleadingly edited to suggest he encouraged attendees to storm the Capitol, the seat of the US Congress. Legislators inside had been in the process of certifying Trump’s 2020 election defeat at the time of the riot.

The British broadcaster has acknowledged that filmmakers spliced together different segments of Trump’s remarks on January 6.

The head of the BBC and its top news executive both resigned, and the outlet issued an apology. But the network has denied Trump’s defamation claims.

Trump has maintained that he never told his supporters to commit violence in a bid to prevent the peaceful transition of power.

Trump, however, has long pushed the false claim that his loss in the 2020 race was due to election-rigging.

On January 6, 2021, Trump had gathered his supporters on the Ellipse outside the White House to reiterate his unsubstantiated assertions.

During his speech, he encouraged them to “fight like hell” and refused to concede to what he falsely portrayed as an election stolen through “fraud”.

Trump and his allies oversaw a multifaceted effort to stay in power despite his loss, one that included the alleged recruitment of “false electors” to cast fraudulent Electoral College votes on his behalf.

He later faced federal charges of attempting to overturn the 2020 election, which were dropped upon his re-election in 2024.

Separately, a state-level case in Georgia accused Trump of engaging in a criminal conspiracy to subvert the 2020 election. The case was dismissed in November 2025 after a replacement prosecutor took over following the disqualification of Fani Willis , who brought the charges against Trump.

A congressional probe into the events around January 6 concluded that the president had been reluctant to call on his supporters to stand down after they stormed the Capitol.

法官表示，特朗普必须在12月11日之前接受BBC律师的质询，否则可能面临诉讼被驳回的风险。

2026年10月21日，唐纳德·特朗普总统在南卡罗来纳州彭德尔顿的一次竞选集会上发表讲话。[朱莉娅·德马雷·尼金森/美联社照片]

美国一名联邦法官已下令唐纳德·特朗普总统接受取证，这是他起诉英国广播公司BBC诽谤100亿美元诉讼案的一部分。

周四，美国地方法官恩乔利克·莱特裁定，特朗普必须宣誓后与英国广播公司 (BBC) 的律师会面，回答相关问题。

列表 1/3：特朗普试图阻止 BBC 传唤伊万卡·特朗普和小特朗普

特朗普威胁要向广播监管机构举报记者克里斯汀·韦尔克（Kristen Welker）的事件（共3条，此为第2条）

问题 3（共 3 题）：特朗普能否禁止 CNN 以及他不喜欢的其他新闻媒体进入白宫？

取证程序定于12月11日之前进行，否则特朗普可能面临制裁，包括诉讼被驳回。

特朗普原定于 10 月 16 日接受质询，但因“国家要事”取消了行程。

BBC 的律师查尔斯·托宾表示，总统当天实际上是在佐治亚州进行竞选活动。

托宾说：“他当时正忙于党内政治活动，把这看得比出席作证更重要。”

他对多家新闻媒体提起诉讼，指控其报道不公或有失偏颇，而此次对BBC的诉讼只是其中之一。

特朗普目前还卷入了另一起针对《华尔街日报》的100亿美元诽谤诉讼，该诉讼此前已被驳回，但他于今年5月重新提起。此外，他还对《纽约时报》和企鹅兰登书屋（一家图书出版商）提起了另一起诽谤诉讼，索赔150亿美元。

这一系列诉讼令新闻自由倡导者感到担忧，他们表示，总统经常利用政府压力和法律威胁来左右新闻报道，使其朝着有利于自己的方向发展。

他对 BBC 的诉讼主要围绕 BBC 播出的一部名为《特朗普：第二次机会》的纪录片展开。

这部纪录片收录了特朗普于 2021 年 1 月 6 日发表的演讲片段，当天特朗普的支持者袭击了美国国会大厦。

特朗普表示，一段他演讲的视频片段被错误剪辑，暗示他鼓励与会者冲击国会大厦——美国国会所在地。骚乱发生时，国会大厦内的议员们正在确认特朗普在2020年大选中的败选结果。

英国广播公司承认，电影制作人员将特朗普1月6日讲话的不同片段剪辑到了一起。

英国广播公司（BBC）总裁和首席新闻官双双辞职，该媒体也发表了道歉声明。但BBC否认了特朗普的诽谤指控。

特朗普坚称，他从未指示其支持者实施暴力以阻止权力和平交接。

然而，特朗普长期以来一直散布虚假说法，称他在 2020 年大选中的失败是由于选举舞弊造成的。

2021年1月6日，特朗普在白宫外的椭圆形草坪上聚集支持者，重申了他未经证实的说法。

在他的演讲中，他鼓励他们“拼死战斗”，并拒绝承认他错误地描述为通过“舞弊”窃取的选举结果。

尽管败选，特朗普及其盟友仍开展了一项多方面的努力来保住权力，其中包括涉嫌招募“虚假选举人”代表他投出欺诈性的选举人团选票。

他后来面临试图推翻 2020 年选举结果的联邦指控，但在 2024 年再次当选后，这些指控被撤销。

此外，佐治亚州的一起州级案件指控特朗普参与了颠覆2020年大选的刑事阴谋。由于原告法尼·威利斯被取消资格，一名新的检察官接手此案，该案于2025年11月被驳回。

国会对 1 月 6 日前后发生的事件进行的调查得出结论，总统在支持者冲击国会大厦后，一直不愿呼吁他们停止行动。