Follow-Up: Judge Rules Trump's $10 Billion Defamation Case Against the BBC Can Proceed, Dismisses Trade Claim
U.S. District Judge Jeffrey T. Kuntz of the Southern District of Florida ruled on November 10 that the BBC's attempt to dismiss the defamation claim in President Donald Trump's lawsuit must fail, allowing Trump's defamation case, which seeks at least $10 billion, to proceed. The same ruling dismissed a separate Trump claim accusing the broadcaster of unfair trade practices. The ruling did not decide whether Trump's allegations have been proven, leaving that question for a later stage of the case.
Kuntz wrote that Trump had plausibly alleged that his reputation was damaged by the edit and that the BBC knew or should have known the clip was misleading. The ruling's reasoning included this passage: "Here, the news entity created the story. BBC admitted as much by confirming it had edited a video to make it appear as though President Trump made a statement he never made." The ruling also noted that the BBC chose to release the documentary one week before the 2024 presidential election, at the time it would have the most impact.
The lawsuit concerns the BBC Panorama documentary "Trump: A Second Chance," broadcast on October 28, 2024. A roughly twelve-second segment spliced together different parts of Trump's January 6, 2021 speech, giving the impression that he had directed supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol. The BBC has admitted that Trump never made the statements as aired, and the BBC's chairman apologized, saying the editing unintentionally created the impression of a single continuous section of the speech. The BBC previously acknowledged the edits were misleading and apologized to Trump, while denying legal liability for defamation.
The BBC had asked the court to throw out the case, warning of the chilling effect it would have on robust reporting on public figures. After the ruling, a BBC spokesperson said the broadcaster was surprised by the decision but respects the court's authority, and noted the case will now proceed to the next stage. The court ordered the BBC to file a response to the ruling by December 1.
Trump posted on Truth Social the same day, calling the ruling "a huge victory against Fake News BBC" and quoting the passage in which the court wrote that the news entity created the story. "Huge victory" is Trump's own wording in his post. As for the ruling itself, the defamation claim was allowed to proceed while the separate claim was dismissed, so the two claims did not come out the same way. (Source: U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida)
Related:
Judge Warns Trump's $10 Billion BBC Lawsuit Could Be Dismissed Over Discovery Noncompliance
Judge Orders Trump to Sit for Deposition by Dec. 11 in $10 Billion BBC Lawsuit
Source: U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于英国伦敦的 BBC 总部广播大楼（Broadcasting House）。照片：Les Hull，CC BY-SA 2.0，经 Geograph 与 Wikimedia Commons。BBC headquarters, Broadcasting House, in London, United Kingdom. Photo: Les Hull, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Geograph and Wikimedia Commons.
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