A federal magistrate judge has ordered President Trump to sit for a deposition in the $10 billion defamation lawsuit he filed against the BBC — by December 11, or face sanctions that could include dismissal of his own case. The order, issued this week by Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué Lett in Florida, caps weeks of wrangling over when, or whether, Trump would answer questions under oath in a case he himself chose to bring.

The BBC's lawyers told the court that Trump originally agreed to sit for the deposition on October 16, then canceled, citing "matters of national importance" — only for the broadcaster's attorney, Charles Tobin, to note that Trump was in fact campaigning in Georgia that day. Trump's legal team countered that the president's official duties leave him unavailable before January 2027, well past the case's current December 18 discovery deadline, and accused the BBC of trying to harass him, his family and his supporters through the deposition process.

Lett wasn't persuaded. According to the Washington Post, she warned that "the Court expects strict compliance with its Order, the failure of which will lead to sanctions" — and set the hard December 11 cutoff rather than let the deposition slide into next year as Trump's filing had requested.

The Case Itself

Trump sued the BBC last December for $10 billion, alleging the network defamed him by splicing together two separate parts of a speech he gave before the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot in a way he says falsely suggested he incited the violence. The BBC has denied the editing distorted his meaning and has also moved to challenge the Florida court's jurisdiction over a British broadcaster — a motion Axios reports remains unresolved alongside the deposition fight.

The stakes of actually sitting for sworn questioning are unusual for a sitting president: Trump would face the BBC's own lawyers on the facts underlying a lawsuit he chose to file, rather than one brought against him. The Hill notes a trial has been provisionally set for February, meaning Thursday's order is unlikely to be the last procedural fight before this case reaches a jury — if it gets that far.

"THE COURT EXPECTS STRICT COMPLIANCE... THE FAILURE OF WHICH WILL LEAD TO SANCTIONS."

Trump's attorneys have not said whether they will comply with the new deadline or seek further delay, and BBC representatives said only that they expect the court's order to be followed. Separately, the same judge overseeing the case has agreed to pause a related order requiring Trump to disclose details of his business empire's financial performance while she considers his side's amended complaint — a sign the broader fight over discovery is far from settled even as the deposition clock now runs.