A United States federal judge has allowed US President Donald Trump’s $10bn defamation lawsuit against the British Broadcasting Corporation to proceed, rejecting the broadcaster’s bid to have the case dismissed.
However, Judge Jeffrey Kuntz dismissed a separate claim brought by Trump under Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, ruling that the documentary in question did not constitute commercial speech.
Trump is suing the BBC over its editing of a speech he delivered outside the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, before the riot at the building.
The broadcaster’s Panorama programme combined two separate portions of the speech, which the president alleged was done to portray him as encouraging violence.
Reacting to the ruling on Tuesday, Trump described it as a “huge victory” in a post on his Truth Social platform.
The BBC, however, expressed surprise at the decision while maintaining its position in the legal dispute.
A BBC spokesperson said, “We are surprised by this decision but respect the Court’s authority and note the case will now proceed to the next stage.”
The spokesperson added: “We remain confident in our position and will continue to respond through the proper legal process.”
In his ruling, Kuntz said Trump had presented sufficient allegations to allow the defamation claim to move forward, stressing that the decision did not establish whether the broadcaster was liable.
“Whether President Trump can prove these claims and establish he sustained damages at summary judgment or trial is left for another day,” he wrote in Tuesday’s order.
The BBC had previously apologised for the documentary, acknowledging that its editing gave “the mistaken impression that Trump made a direct call for violent action”.
The broadcaster subsequently challenged the lawsuit, arguing that the programme did not satisfy the legal requirements for defamation and was not available to viewers in the United States.
Trump’s legal team had initially claimed that the documentary was accessible through the BBC’s BritBox subscription service, its website, BBC Select and US broadcasters.
However, his lawyers later conceded they had no evidence to support those claims.
The president also agreed to withdraw BBC Studios, the broadcaster’s commercial arm, from the lawsuit after the BBC argued that it had “no role in creating or producing the documentary”.
Meanwhile, Trump has been ordered to answer questions under oath in the case by December 11, following the cancellation of an earlier deposition.
The president had cited “matters of national importance” for missing the previous deposition, while a BBC lawyer told the court that Trump had prioritised campaigning in Georgia in October over answering the questions.
