Federal judge rejects motion to dismiss Trump’s defamation lawsuit against BBC

A US federal judge on Tuesday denied a motion to dismiss President Trump’s defamation suit against the BBC, allowing the case to proceed.

In December 2025, Mr. Trump filed a $10 billion lawsuit against the British Broadcasting Corporation, the United Kingdom’s public broadcaster, over a documentary featuring edited portions of the speech he gave on January 6, 2021, as his supporters massed around the U.S. Capitol in what would become a assault on the heart of government.

In the trial, filed in the Southern District of FloridaMr. Trump’s lawyers accuse the BBC of publishing a “false, defamatory, misleading, derogatory, inflammatory and malicious portrayal” of him in an episode of the channel’s “Panorama” show, broadcast a week before the 2024 election.

The case alleges that the BBC “intentionally and maliciously sought to completely mislead its viewers” by “stitching together” two extracts from the same speech Mr Trump gave to his supporters before the riots began. The president’s legal team says the two clips were 55 minutes apart and that the edit omitted “his statement calling for peace.”

On Tuesday, Judge Jeffrey Kuntz denied the BBC’s motion to dismiss the defamation case, allowing it to proceed.

“Whether President Trump can prove these assertions and establish that he suffered damages at summary judgment or trial is left for another day,” Kuntz wrote in his ruling.

Mr. Trump hailed the decision as “a huge victory against fake news from the BBC, a terrible abuser of the truth,” in a message posted on his Truth Social platform.

A BBC spokesperson, quoted by the channel’s news division, said: “We are surprised by this decision but respect the authority of the Court and note that the case will now move to the next stage.”

“We remain confident in our position and will continue to respond through the appropriate legal process,” the spokesperson added.

On October 22, a federal judge in Miami said Mr. Trump should appear for a deposition with the BBC’s lawyers before December 11, warning that if he did not do so he would face sanctions, including a possible dismissal of the lawsuit, unless the deadline for the president and the network to gather information about the case was extended.

Mr Trump was due to appear for a deposition in October, but his lawyers told the BBC in late September that he would no longer be available to answer questions, “due to other matters of national importance”.

The president said he would be available for testimony in the second or third week of January, according to the BBC.

In November 2025, the The BBC apologized to the president for editing his speech as presented in the documentary.

“BBC Chairman Samir Shah has separately sent a personal letter to the White House making it clear to President Trump that he and the corporation are sorry for the alteration of the President’s speech from January 6, 2021, which appeared in the programme,” the BBC press office said in its statement at the time.

“While the BBC sincerely regrets the manner in which the video clip was edited, we strongly disagree that a defamation claim is founded,” the press office added.