Judge rules Trump must hand over records sought by BBC in defamation case

A judge in Florida has ruled President Donald Trump must hand over financial records sought by the BBC as it defends itself in his $10bn (£7.5bn) defamation lawsuit.

The order came during the first hearing in the case, in which the US president is suing the corporation over an episode of Panorama that edited together different sections of his speech on the day of the US Capitol riot on 6 January 2021.

Judge Enjoliqué Lett granted a motion by the BBC’s legal team to compel the release of financial records held by the Donald J Trump Revocable Trust, which he created to manage his businesses while he is president.

The judge’s ruling at Tuesday’s hearing in Miami can still be appealed.

However, it amounts to a partial success in the BBC’s attempt to force Trump to provide evidence for his claim of financial loss due to the Panorama edit.

The judge gave a split decision on a separate request by the BBC for documents relating to the Capitol riot itself.

The defamation case is currently focused on the procedure known as discovery, where the two sides provide internal or other records that could form evidence.

The BBC’s lawyers said the corporation had produced 87,000 pages of documents, whereas they said Trump’s side had released a “sham production” of only 735 pages, which they said were “news articles” and other material “pulled from the internet”.

Counsel for the BBC, Charles Tobin, said this meant the discovery process had been “entirely one-sided”.

Counsel for Trump, Alejandro Brito, described the BBC’s requests for documents as “oppressive” and “sweeping”.

He also opposed the BBC’s requests for records about Trump’s conversations with aides relating to the Capitol riot, as well as subpoenas issued to federal agencies and former officials.

Trump’s legal team accused the BBC of a “fishing expedition” with subpoenas to “harass” former officials.

Much of the argument from Trump’s lawyers focused on a letter sent from BBC Chairman Samir Shah to the US president in November last year.

In the letter, Shah apologised for the Panorama clip, which he said unintentionally gave the “mistaken impression that President Trump made a direct call for violent action”.

Brito described the letter as a “concession” and “admission” by the BBC.

The BBC has already sought to have the entire case dismissed, arguing the documentary was not broadcast in the US. The court has yet to rule on this.