The BBC is asking a federal judge in Florida to order Donald Trump to sit for a deposition as part of the president’s defamation case against the broadcaster. Multiple outlets report that a deposition was scheduled but was cancelled by Trump’s legal team, which says the president is unavailable for about two months and cites “matters of national importance.”
According to court filings described by the outlets, the parties previously agreed to a deposition date, with the BBC saying it has spent months seeking a location and that it still lacks a scheduled deposition for Trump, a central figure in the case. Trump’s team later suggested moving the deposition to later dates, after discovery deadlines.
The underlying dispute is that Trump seeks about $10 billion (described in pounds as well) in damages from the BBC over an edited version of a speech connected to the January 6, 2021 Capitol events. Outlets also note the case is at a stage where discovery is nearing its end, and the deposition schedule is a key dispute, with the BBC seeking judicial intervention to keep the process on track.
