A federal judge in Florida on Wednesday dated President Donald Trump’s $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the BBC for a two-week trial in February 2027, Reuters reported, setting the stage for the British news organization to defend a documentary’s spliced editing of Trump’s Jan. 6 speech.
A BBC spokesperson pointed to the network’s previous statement in the legal battle, which said the BBC would be “defending this case” and would not comment further on an ongoing legal matter. A spokesperson for Trump’s outside legal counsel said the ruling “is an important legal victory for America.”
Trump sued the British network for $10 billion in December over a pre-2024 election documentary — titled “Trump: A Second Chance?” — that edited portions of Trump’s 2021 speech on the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., that made it appear he urged his supporters to “fight like hell” ahead of the Capitol riot. He demanded $5 billion each for one count of defamation and another for violating a Florida trade practices law.
U.S. District Court Judge Roy Altman, a Trump appointee, also denied the BBC’s January request to postpone the discovery process, which would allow each side to exchange communications and internal records. The BBC argued that discovery would impose an unnecessarily high cost if the case was ultimately dismissed, but Altman said the request was premature.
The BBC said in its filing last month that it intends to file a motion to dismiss the lawsuit by March 17. It also rejected Trump’s defamation claim and choice of venue, arguing that the documentary did not air in Florida and that Trump could not prove “any cognizable injury” as he won the 2024 election.
An internal report last year that criticized the documentary’s editing led to the resignations of the BBC’s director general and its head of news. Trump later demanded the network apologize and compensate him. While the BBC did issue Trump an apology, it has refused to pay him and has rejected his claims that the documentary defamed him.