U.S. Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué Lett ordered President Donald Trump to sit for a deposition in his $10 billion defamation suit against the BBC by December 11, and warned that failure to comply could lead to sanctions including dismissal of the case. The suit challenges a Panorama documentary that spliced comments Trump made at a January 6, 2021 rally. Lett rejected a request to bar videotaping of the seven-hour deposition, though the video will be accessible only to attorneys in the case. At a Miami hearing, BBC attorney Charles Tobin told the court Trump’s team had produced no substantive internal documents and asked the court to compel fuller discovery; Lett gave the plaintiffs 30 days to produce relevant materials ahead of an December 18 discovery cutoff. Trump previously agreed to an October 16 deposition that was canceled for what his counsel described as a matter of national importance, a date the BBC noted coincided with a campaign event in Georgia. Lett said this is the plaintiff’s last opportunity to comply and acknowledged that district judge Jeffrey T. Kuntz could adjust the overall discovery schedule.
