A US judge has ordered President Donald Trump to answer questions under oath in his defamation lawsuit against the BBC by 11 December.
Trump is suing the BBC over an episode of Panorama that edited together two different sections of a speech he gave before the riot at the US Capitol in 2021.
Trump cancelled a previous deposition – or interview under oath – on 16 October, citing “matters of national importance”.
But a lawyer representing the BBC said in court that Trump was campaigning in Georgia that day and had “prioritised that” over answering the questions.
President Trump’s lawsuit against the BBC is in the phase known as “discovery”, where the two sides provide internal or other records that could form evidence.
Charles Tobin, a lawyer for the BBC, told a court in Miami on Thursday that with two months left in the discovery period, Trump had still not completed a deposition.
US Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué Lett said Trump must sit for the deposition by 11 December or face sanctions – the most extreme of which could be the dismissal of the lawsuit – unless the discovery period is extended.
In US law, a deposition is an out-of-court statement made under oath in response to questions, which is recorded for use in later proceedings. Depositions carry legal weight – they are recorded verbatim by a court reporter and the transcripts can later be used as evidence in trials.
They typically take place in a lawyer’s office without a judge physically present.
In defamation cases, lawyers for both sides are normally present for depositions.
Last week, lawyers asked that Lett compel Trump to face deposition after the last scheduled meeting did not take place.
On that day, Trump attended a midterms campaign rally in Dalton, Georgia and a fundraiser at his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida.
In a separate filing on Wednesday, Trump’s lawyers said that the president could appear for the interview between 11 and 22 January next year, and claimed the BBC was “wrong to claim that President Trump is avoiding his deposition in this action.”
Trump’s lawsuit – filed in Florida – accuses the BBC of “intentionally, maliciously, and deceptively doctoring” the speech he gave outside the Capitol on 6 January 2021.
The BBC apologised for the error and said that the broadcast gave “the mistaken impression that President Trump made a direct call for violent action”.
The broadcaster has since asked that the court dismiss the lawsuit, arguing the programme does not meet the legal criteria for defamation and was not available in the US.
In July, Trump’s lawyers conceded they had no evidence that the documentary was available in the US on the BBC’s BritBox subscription service – as they originally claimed – or on the BBC’s website, BBC select or through US broadcasters.
Trump ultimately agreed to drop the lawsuit against BBC Studios, its commercial arm, after the BBC argued that it had “no role in creating or producing the documentary”.
