US judge allows Trump‑BBC defamation claim to proceed, dismisses one allegation

President Donald Trump’s $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the BBC will continue, a federal judge in Florida ruled on Tuesday.

Judge Jeffrey Kuntz permitted the main defamation claim to go forward but dismissed a separate allegation that the broadcaster’s actions breached a Florida law on unfair business practices.

The case, filed by Trump in December, accuses the publicly funded British broadcaster of defamation and of deceptive trade practices linked to the documentary “Trump: A Second Chance?”. The BBC admitted that editors had spliced together excerpts from Trump’s Jan 6, 2021 speech to suggest he was urging violence, and issued an apology for the editing.

In October, another Florida judge ordered Trump to sit for a deposition by 11 Dec, a deadline the BBC says has been delayed. BBC attorney Charles Tobin noted that with two months left in the discovery period, the plaintiff has not yet been deposed.

Trump hailed the ruling as a “huge victory” on his Truth Social platform, pledging to continue fighting “fake news”. The BBC has denied the defamation allegations.

Source: ABC News. Photo: Eddie O. / Pexels.