In the ongoing lawsuit seeking a billion-dollar defamation judgment against the BBC, U.S. President Donald Trump is required to testify under oath. A federal judge has determined that Trump must be available to give his statement by December 11. Should he fail to comply with this demand, he faces sanctions that could extend to having his lawsuit dismissed.
Trump was originally scheduled to testify last Friday, but his attorneys notified the opposing party that he was unavailable due to other “national matters.” On the day of the planned appearance, Trump gave a speech in Georgia and subsequently visited his resort, Mar-a-Lago, in Florida. The BBC has urged the judge to secure a definitive date confirmation from Trump.
The lawsuit, which Trump filed in December, pertains to a video that contained excerpts from a speech he gave on January 6, 2021. Trump claimed that the film misrepresented his statements. Although the BBC apologized in November 2025 for editing the clip, it concurrently denied that a basis for a defamation lawsuit existed.
