The order from Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué Lett came at a Miami hearing on Thursday, after BBC lawyers complained that Trump had repeatedly delayed giving testimony. Discovery in the case is scheduled to close on 18 December, and attorney Charles Tobin told the court: "Two months of discovery remaining, the BBC still has not been able to depose, and does not even have a schedule to depose, the most central figure in this case: Plaintiff himself."
The lawsuit, filed last December, stems from a BBC Panorama documentary that spliced together comments from Trump's 6 January 2021 speech before the US Capitol riot, creating the impression he directly encouraged violence. The broadcaster apologised and its director-general and top news executive resigned over the editing, but it rejects Trump's claims of defamation. Trump's team has argued he was personally damaged under Florida's Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act.
A previously agreed deposition date of 16 October was cancelled by Trump's counsel citing "other matters of national importance", but the BBC noted that Trump was attending a campaign event in Georgia that day. "He was participating in party politics and prioritized that over sitting for the deposition," Tobin said. Trump's Florida-based attorney, Alejandro Brito, responded that the president was "involved in a host of things" on a daily basis that the BBC's legal team "has no idea" about.
Lett also rejected a request to prevent the seven-hour deposition from being videotaped, though the recording will be accessible only to attorneys in the case. She criticised what Tobin called a "completely lopsided" discovery situation, in which Trump's team had "produced absolutely nothing of any substance". Lett told Brito: "It strains credulity that a thorough search has been done in order to determine that all of these requests have been responded to." She gave the plaintiffs 30 days to produce relevant documents and warned that failure "could result in sanctions, including possible dismissal of the suit for failure to prosecute the case and engage in meaningful discovery process". "This is the last opportunity to do so," she said.
Legal teams also clashed over whether former special counsel Jack Smith should undergo a deposition after the BBC subpoenaed him earlier this month. Trump's lawyers argued that Smith "lacks any personal knowledge regarding the issues in this matter" and that his testimony would be duplicative of his published report and prior testimony. The BBC countered that it is "difficult to imagine a more authoritative source" on the events of 6 January than Smith, who spent years gathering evidence "with the force of the Justice Department and the power of the grand jury behind him".
Lett said she was obligated to adhere to the discovery schedule, though the timeline could be extended by District Court Judge Jeffrey T. Kuntz. Tobin said the BBC was willing to push back the deposition timeline if Kuntz adjusted the schedule.