Trump’s defamation lawsuit against the BBC is set to go to trial in 2027, US judge says

Audio By Carbonatix

LONDON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the BBC can go to trial in 2027, a U.S. judge has said.

Judge Roy K. Altman of the federal court for the Southern District of Florida rejected an attempt by Britain’s national broadcaster to delay proceedings.

He set a provisional start date of Feb. 15 2027 for a two-week trial. Altman's court order was issued Wednesday.

Trump filed a lawsuit in December over the way the BBC edited a speech he gave on Jan. 6, 2021. The claim seeks $5 billion in damages for defamation and $5 billion for unfair trade practices.

The speech took place before some of Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol as Congress was poised to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election that Trump falsely alleged was stolen from him.

The BBC had broadcast the documentary — titled “Trump: A Second Chance?” — days before the 2024 U.S. presidential election. It spliced together three quotes from two sections of the 2021 speech, delivered almost an hour apart, into what appeared to be one quote in which Trump urged supporters to march with him and “fight like hell.” Among the parts cut out was a section where Trump said he wanted supporters to demonstrate peacefully.

The broadcaster has apologized to Trump over the edit of the Jan. 6 speech. But the publicly funded BBC rejects claims it defamed him. The furor triggered the resignations of the BBC’s top executive and its head of news.

Papers filed last month said the BBC plans to file a motion to dismiss the case on the basis that the court lacks jurisdiction, because the program was not broadcast in Florida, and that Trump failed to state a claim.

Ahead of that motion it asked the court to postpone discovery — the pretrial process in which parties must turn over documents and other information — pending a decision on the motion to dismiss. The discovery process could require the BBC to hand over reams of emails and other materials related to its coverage of Trump.

The judge said the motion “is premature” because it’s too early in the legal process for the BBC to request such a stay.

The BBC said "we will be defending this case. We are not going to make further comment on ongoing legal proceedings.”