FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — President Donald Trump scored a major courtroom triumph on Tuesday after a federal judge rejected the BBC’s attempt to throw out his $10 billion defamation lawsuit over a deceptively edited documentary quote.
U.S. District Judge Jeffrey T. Kuntz ruled that Trump’s legal team had plausibly alleged the British broadcaster acted with “actual malice” when it spliced together footage from his Jan. 6, 2021, speech — combining two remarks delivered nearly an hour apart to make it appear as though he explicitly incited violence at the U.S. Capitol.
‘Not Trimming Around The Edges’
The core dispute centers on an episode of the BBC’s “Panorama” series. Editors stitched together Trump’s call to march to the Capitol with his statement urging supporters to “fight like hell,” while entirely cutting out the passage where he told the crowd to “peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”
Although the BBC previously issued an apology acknowledging the edit was misleading — an embarrassment that triggered the high-profile resignations of Director-General Tim Davie and news chief Deborah Turness — the broadcaster maintained that the error did not meet the legal bar for defamation.
Judge Kuntz delivered a stinging rebuke of that defense.
“BBC tries to frame this editing as ordinary editing done to condense a seventy-minute-long speech into twelve seconds. But the Court is not persuaded,” Kuntz wrote in his order. “This was not trimming around the edges but creating something different than what was stated in the speech.”
‘A Victory Against Fake News’
Trump took to Truth Social on Tuesday evening to celebrate the ruling, highlighting the judge’s determination.
“A Huge Victory against Fake News BBC,” Trump declared. “We will continue fighting against, and defeating, all of those who try to deceive the American People!”
While Judge Kuntz dismissed the second count of the lawsuit brought under Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act — ruling the documentary did not constitute commercial speech — he left the defamation claim fully intact.
Watch: How the ruling could affect Trump’s legal battle with the BBC:
Dec. 11 Deposition Looming
While the ruling clears a major hurdle for Trump, the legal battle moves into an intense discovery phase.
Under an order issued by a federal magistrate judge in late October, President Trump must sit for a sworn deposition by BBC attorneys no later than Dec. 11, 2026. The court warned that failure to comply could result in severe legal sanctions.
The BBC stated it was “surprised” by the ruling but remains confident in its ultimate legal position as the case proceeds toward trial.
