A Florida judge ordered Donald Trump to provide financial records from his trust as the BBC fights his $10 billion defamation case over a Panorama edit.
A Florida judge has ordered President Donald Trump to hand over financial records in the Trump defamation case brought by the BBC, giving the broadcaster a partial win as it fights the president’s $10 billion lawsuit over a Panorama segment.
The ruling came at the first hearing in the case on Tuesday in Miami, Florida. Judge Enjoliqué Lett granted the BBC’s motion to compel records held by the Donald J Trump Revocable Trust, which Trump created to manage his businesses while he is president. The order can still be appealed.
The dispute centers on a Panorama episode that edited together different parts of Trump’s speech on January 6, 2021, the day of the US Capitol riot. The BBC is trying to show whether Trump can prove any financial harm from the broadcast. The judge also gave a mixed ruling on a separate BBC request for documents tied to the Capitol riot itself.
Lawyers for the BBC said the broadcaster had already turned over 87,000 pages of material, while Trump’s side had produced just 735 pages, which they described as internet-sourced news articles and similar material. BBC counsel Charles Tobin said the discovery process had been entirely one-sided.
Trump’s lawyer, Alejandro Brito, pushed back hard, calling the BBC’s requests oppressive and sweeping. He also objected to demands for records about Trump’s conversations with aides regarding the Capitol riot, along with subpoenas sent to federal agencies and former officials. Trump’s team said the BBC was on a fishing expedition and was trying to harass former officials.
Much of the hearing also focused on a letter BBC Chairman Samir Shah sent to Trump in November last year. Shah apologized for the Panorama clip and said it unintentionally created the mistaken impression that Trump had made a direct call for violent action. Brito pointed to that letter as a concession by the BBC. The broadcaster has also asked the court to dismiss the entire case, arguing the documentary was not broadcast in the United States. The court has not yet ruled on that request. The bottom line: the Trump defamation case is now moving into discovery, where the fight over records may shape how strong each side’s claims really are.
