US judge rejects BBC’s stay application in Trump defamation case

LONDON – A US judge has rejected the BBC’s application to stay discovery in the US$10 billion (S$12.6 billion)

lawsuit brought by US President Donald Trump

over its editing of a speech that made it appear he directed supporters to storm the US Capitol, court documents showed on Feb 12.

Mr Trump has accused Britain’s publicly owned broadcaster of defaming him by splicing together parts of a Jan 6, 2021, speech, including one section where he told supporters to march on the Capitol and another where he said “fight like hell”.

It omitted a lengthy section in which he called for peaceful protest.

Mr Trump’s lawsuit alleges the BBC defamed him and violated a Florida law that bars deceptive and unfair trade practices. He is seeking at least US$5 billion in damages for each of the lawsuit’s two counts.

US District Judge Roy Altman on Feb 11 denied the British broadcaster’s application to stay the merits-based discovery phase, when both sides can obtain evidence from other parties in the lawsuit, the documents showed.

The judge said the BBC’s application was premature nor had it shown that it would be prejudiced if the stay was not granted. In a separate order, the judge set a two-week trial date for February 2027.

The BBC declined to comment.

The broadcaster has previously

said it would defend the case

and would seek to have the case dismissed, arguing that the court lacked jurisdiction because it did not broadcast the programme in Florida, and that the president could not prove damages because he was re-elected after it aired. REUTERS