The BBC wants testimony from Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner. Trump says the broadcaster is “harassing” his family.
President Donald Trump is accusing the BBC of crossing a line after the broadcaster asked a U.S. court to subpoena three members of his family in Trump’s $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the network.
The BBC says it’s evidence. And now a federal court is being asked to decide whether Trump’s children and son-in-law should be dragged into the fight.
Trump sued the BBC over a Panorama documentary that edited together separate portions of a speech he delivered shortly before the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
His lawsuit argues that the editing falsely made it appear as though Trump had issued a direct call for violent action.
The BBC has already acknowledged that the editing was an error and apologized.
But the network isn’t conceding Trump’s $10 billion claim.
Instead, its lawyers are seeking court orders requiring Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner to provide documents and sit for testimony related to the case.
Trump’s legal team isn’t happy about it.
“The BBC intentionally defamed President Donald J Trump, and now the BBC is seeking to harass him, his family and supporters by abusing the deposition process,” a spokesperson for Trump’s legal team told The Times.
The spokesperson accused the BBC of trying to distract from what Trump’s lawyers consider the network’s “obvious liability.”
The BBC sees it differently.
The network argues that Trump’s relatives could provide evidence about what he was thinking and doing when the January 6 speech was being prepared.
According to the BBC, the three were in the Oval Office while the speech was being worked on.
The broadcaster argues that makes them potentially relevant witnesses to Trump’s actions surrounding January 6 — particularly because Trump himself has made the speech and its meaning central to his defamation lawsuit.
In other words, the BBC’s argument is pretty straightforward:
If Trump’s case depends on what he meant and what happened around that speech, people who were there could have something useful to say.
Trump, unsurprisingly, doesn’t see it that way.
Secret Service creates an unusual problem
Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump and Kushner are protected by the U.S. Secret Service as members of the sitting president’s immediate family, creating an unusual logistical obstacle for the broadcaster.
The BBC says it has tried to resolve the issue without involving the court. That hasn’t work.
The network is now asking the court to authorize service of the subpoenas by email and certified mail.
Trump’s legal team has until Friday to respond.
The trial is scheduled to begin in February in Miami.
The BBC already admitted it made a mistake and has apologized for its handling of Trump’s speech.
The BBC acknowledged that the editing created the misleading impression that Trump had directly called for violent action.
The network called it an “error of judgment” and apologized to Trump.
But an apology over the editing doesn’t mean the BBC agrees that Trump is entitled to $10 billion.
And that’s where this legal fight gets particularly interesting.
Trump is arguing that the BBC’s editing amounted to defamation.
The BBC is effectively saying: Yes, we made an editing mistake. But we still want to examine the circumstances surrounding the speech and Trump’s claims about it.
Now the network wants testimony from three people very close to the president.
Trump says that’s harassment. The BBC says they’re relevant witnesses.
And with a $10 billion lawsuit hanging over the case, neither side appears particularly interested in backing down.
For now, the next move belongs to the court, and Trump’s lawyers have until Friday to make their case for keeping his family out of the deposition process.
