A federal judge in Florida has denied the BBC’s request to motion to stay discovery in President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against the company, which was brought following the article’s decision to publish false information about the president’s speech ahead of the January 6 Capitol protests in 2021.
U.S. District Judge Roy K. Altman of the Southern District of Florida described the BBC’s request as “premature” and noted that the broadcaster had not demonstrated sufficient prejudice to justify halting the process at such an early stage of the proceedings. Judge Altman also set a trial date for February 15, 2027, which will be a two-week proceeding in Miami.
This decision comes amid the BBC’s plans to file a motion to dismiss the case by March 17 on grounds that it lacks jurisdiction and improper venue. The denial of the stay means discovery will proceed without delay, which will allow the president;s legal team to request internal BBC documents related to the disputed documentary.
“As we have made clear previously, we will be defending this case,” a BBC spokesperson said following the ruling.
This ruling marks a procedural setback for the BBC, which had sought to limit discovery to jurisdictional issues only, arguing that broader evidence gathering would be burdensome given their intent to challenge the court’s authority over the case. Trump’s team rejected this phased approach, leading to the broadcaster’s formal motion for a stay.
While Thursday’s ruling does advance the case, it did not deal with any merits of the president’s claims, which will likely be addressed in the upcoming dismissal motion.
🚨🔥BREAKING: Donald Trump’s $10 billion defamation case against the BBC is scheduled to go to trial in February 2027.pic.twitter.com/VXkBc9FiEG
— aka (@akafaceUS) February 12, 2026
The lawsuit stems from a BBC Panorama documentary titled “Trump: A Second Chance?” that aired in the UK on October 28, 2024, just days before the U.S. presidential election. Allegations of wrongdoing stem from two non-consecutive clips from the president’s January 6, 2021 speech that were spliced together to appear as one clip.
Specifically, the edit combined Trump’s statement, “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol,” with “fight like hell,” omitting an intervening portion where he urged supporters to protest “peacefully and patriotically.”
This, according to the suit, created a “false, defamatory, deceptive, disparaging, inflammatory, and malicious depiction” intended to portray Trump as directly inciting violence. The 33-page complaint accuses the BBC of a “staggering breach of journalistic ethics” and claims the documentary was accessible to Florida residents via streaming
Trump’s legal team has further noted that scenes were filmed in Florida, including around his Mar-A-Lago resort, which they argued should establish jurisdiction.
Over the last two years, Trump has secured notable settlements in defamation suits against major media outlets for publishing false or deceptively edited claims. In December 2024, ABC News agreed to pay $15 million toward Trump’s presidential library and $1 million in legal fees to settle a lawsuit over anchor George Stephanopoulos’ repeated on-air claim that Trump was found “liable for rape” in the E. Jean Carroll case
This was false, as Trump had been found liable for “defaming” Carroll in the highly controversial case.
In July 2025, CBS parent company Paramount Global settled a $10 billion lawsuit for $16 million, stemming from allegations that the network deceptively edited a “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris. The incident in question spliced two different answers from the then-vice president in order to give the appearance of a single answer.
