OMM Newsroom
A federal judge in Florida has allowed US President Donald Trump’s defamation lawsuit against the BBC to proceed after the broadcaster asked for the case to be dismissed, according to the BBC.
Judge Jeffrey Kuntz dismissed a separate claim in the $10bn (£7.5bn) lawsuit brought under Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, ruling that the documentary did not constitute commercial speech.
Trump is suing 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. His lawsuit accuses the BBC of “intentionally, maliciously and deceptively doctoring” the speech, delivered outside the Capitol on 6 January 2021.
Trump described the ruling as a “huge victory” in a post on “Truth Social” on Tuesday. A BBC spokesperson said the broadcaster was “surprised by this decision” but respected the court’s authority and noted that the case would proceed to the next stage.
“We remain confident in our position and will continue to respond through the proper legal process,” the spokesperson added.
Judge Kuntz found that Trump’s defamation allegations were sufficient for the lawsuit to continue, but did not rule on their merits. “Whether President Trump can prove these claims and establish he sustained damages at summary judgment or trial is left for another day,” he wrote in Tuesday’s order.
The BBC apologised over the broadcast and said it gave “the mistaken impression that Trump made a direct call for violent action”. The broadcaster later asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that the programme did not meet the legal criteria for defamation and was not available in the United States.
Trump had also alleged that the BBC violated Florida law. The judge dismissed that part of the lawsuit on Tuesday.
Last month, a judge ordered Trump to answer questions under oath in the lawsuit by 11 December. He had cancelled an earlier deposition in October, citing “matters of national importance”.
A lawyer for the BBC told the court that Trump was campaigning in Georgia on the scheduled day in October and had “prioritised that” over answering their questions.
Earlier this year, Trump’s lawyers conceded they had no evidence that the documentary was available in the United States on the BBC’s “BritBox” subscription service, as they had originally claimed, or on the BBC’s website, “BBC Select” or through US broadcasters.
Trump later agreed to drop “BBC Studios”, the broadcaster’s commercial arm, from the defamation lawsuit after the BBC argued it had “no role in creating or producing the documentary”.
