Trump Wins Temporary Stay in BBC Defamation Case Financial Disclosure
A federal judge temporarily halted an order for Trump to disclose financial records in his $10 billion BBC lawsuit while his amended complaint is reviewed.
A federal judge in Florida has temporarily paused an order that would have required President Donald Trump to begin disclosing financial details of his business empire as part of his $10 billion lawsuit against the BBC.
U.S. District Judge Roy Altman granted the stay on Thursday while he considers an amended complaint from Trump's legal team. The revised filing reportedly narrows the claim to focus solely on reputational damage, dropping the earlier assertion of harm to his business interests. Trump's lawyers hope this change eliminates the need for the financial disclosures, which were set to begin this week under an order from Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué Lett.
Altman, a 2019 Trump appointee, wrote that he found the argument for the amended complaint "compelling" and deemed it prudent to hold off on the disclosure order until the amendment request is resolved. The updated complaint has not been made public.
The lawsuit stems from a 2024 BBC documentary that edited a speech Trump gave on January 6, 2021, before the Capitol attack. Trump alleges the editing was misleading because it omitted a section where he called for peaceful demonstrations. He is seeking $5 billion in damages for defamation and $5 billion for unfair trade practices. The BBC has apologized for the edit but denies defaming the president. The controversy led to the resignations of the BBC's top executive and its head of news.
Legal observers note that Trump could simply drop the lawsuit if the BBC successfully argues that financial data remains relevant to assessing reputational harm. Seth Stern of the Freedom of the Press Foundation pointed out that Trump has a history of filing lawsuits and dismissing them before discovery. He also questioned the logic of claiming $10 billion in reputational damages after winning the presidency following the reporting in question.
The case is one of several legal actions Trump has initiated against media organizations. He is also pursuing a $10 billion defamation case against The Wall Street Journal and has clashed with ABC over its coverage. A trial is provisionally set for February, though the timeline remains uncertain as the legal maneuvering continues.