A Florida federal judge has kept Donald Trump’s $10 billion defamation case against the BBC alive. He refused to throw out the core claim while trimming one part of the lawsuit. The ruling means the dispute over a controversial documentary edit will continue.
Why a federal judge allowed the defamation case to proceed
Judge Jeffrey Kuntz declined on Tuesday to dismiss Donald Trump’s defamation case against the BBC, allowing the central allegation to advance. He stopped short of ruling on whether Trump’s claim has merit, so the case now moves into pretrial proceedings instead of ending at this stage. The judge did hand the BBC a partial win. He dismissed Trump’s separate allegation that the broadcaster broke a Florida law on unfair business practices, leaving defamation as the surviving claim (via PBS).
Trump filed the lawsuit in December. He accused the BBC of defamation and deceptive trade practices tied to its documentary “Trump: A Second Chance?” The BBC has conceded that its filmmakers stitched together quotes from separate moments of Trump’s Jan. 6, 2021, speech to supporters before the Capitol storming, creating the impression that he urged violence directly.
The broadcaster apologized for the edit, and its director and top news executive both stepped down. The BBC denies defaming Trump. Kuntz referenced that apology in his ruling, according to reports.
Separately, the case has generated a scheduling dispute. Another Florida judge ordered Trump in October to give a deposition by December 11. BBC lawyer Charles Tobin said that with two months left in discovery, “we still haven’t been able to depose the plaintiff.” That deadline could still shift.
However, Trump cast the outcome as a decisive win. “A Huge Victory against Fake News BBC, a terrible abuser of the truth, just handed down by highly respected District Court Judge, Jeffrey T. Kuntz, of the Southern District of Florida,” he wrote on Truth Social. “We will continue fighting against and defeating all of those who try to deceive the American People!” he added Tuesday evening.
The defamation case now heads toward depositions and further pretrial fights. The dismissed business-practices claim narrows the scope of the litigation, but Trump’s central accusation against the BBC survives for now.
