BBC claims Trump is being dragged 'kicking and screaming' to testify after he cancels deposition in $10bn lawsuit
Donald Trump, whose deposition the BBC is seeking a court order to compel, has yet to be questioned despite seven BBC witnesses already giving testimony.The BBC filed its motion after Trump's team cancelled a 16 October deposition date, proposing January — more than a month after the discovery period closes.
The BBC has asked US Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué Lett to compel Trump to sit for questioning before the December 18 discovery deadline, after his lawyers called off his sworn deposition — originally scheduled for October 16 — citing "other matters of national importance" and indicating he could not appear before mid-December at minimum. BBC attorney Charles Tobin noted that after nearly eight months of discovery, seven BBC witnesses have been deposed, yet Trump, the plaintiff who initiated the case, has given no testimony at all.
Trump filed the $10bn lawsuit in December 2025, alleging the BBC defamed him by broadcasting an edited version of his January 6 speech on Panorama the day before the 2024 election.
The BBC's lawyers argued Trump 'chose to file this lawsuit and, in doing so, he accepted the obligations of civil litigation' — a pointed rebuke to the President's delay.
Trump's legal team put forward mid-January as an alternative deposition date — which falls after the discovery deadline — a proposed schedule the BBC is now urging the court to reject.
