A $10 billion defamation suit against the BBC is now in danger of being thrown out over material the president’s own lawyers failed to hand over.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué Aytch Lett told President Donald Trump’s lawyers in Miami on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, that she could dismiss the case if Trump does not work harder to produce the material the broadcaster is entitled to.

Lett ordered Trump to sit for a deposition by Dec. 11, a date she and both sides said will likely be pushed back. She also backed a BBC subpoena for membership records at Mar-a-Lago. The penalties on her table run from sanctions all the way to dismissal of the suit for failing to prosecute the case, she said, and Trump’s team was hearing its final invitation to join the process.

Lett put it bluntly to Trump’s personal attorneys: “Engaging in discovery is burdensome, but is a burden we undertake, especially if we file a lawsuit.”

A Single Document Since July

Lett said she doubted that anyone on Trump’s side had run a thorough search for internal documents. She gave his team 30 days to turn over what the BBC requested.

What the president’s lawyers have produced so far came largely from the internet, or from the BBC itself. Charles Tobin, who leads the BBC’s legal team, described the exchange to the court as one that had run in a single direction, with nothing of substance coming from Trump’s side.

The record behind that complaint is thin. Exactly one document had come from Trump, delivered on July 14, the BBC said in a September filing, which added that his written answers were not signed under oath. An earlier order from Lett required the undisputed records to be produced by Oct. 21.

A Rally Instead of a Deposition

Trump’s side had agreed to sit for questioning on Oct. 16. On Sept. 28, his lawyers told the BBC the president was no longer available that day because of other matters of national importance.

A court filing listed what those matters were: conflict in Iran, unrest elsewhere in the Middle East, the war between Russia and Ukraine, and a White House accord on super intelligence. The BBC countered with a different account of the day, noting that the president’s schedule included a campaign rally in Dalton, Ga., along with a fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago. What Trump’s team had handed over, Tobin told the court, was “fake news.”

The president’s daily activities span a range of matters the BBC’s lawyers know nothing about, said Alejandro Brito, Trump’s Florida-based attorney. Brito also fought the Mar-a-Lago subpoena, arguing that Trump’s occupation is president of the United States and that the club has nothing to do with it. The subpoena was allowed anyway by Lett.

The Camera Stays On

Trump’s lawyers asked Lett to bar video of the questioning. She refused. The deposition will run seven hours and will be videotaped, with the recording accessible only to the attorneys in the case.

The video request came in a filing on Wednesday, Oct. 21, in which the lawyers wrote that the president was not avoiding his deposition. They proposed a window of Jan. 11-22, 2027. Earlier in October, Trump’s lawyers had said he had nothing open before discovery closes Dec. 18. January 2027 was on offer to the BBC only if the broadcaster agreed to extend the schedule.

The friction predates this week. In a court order issued Friday, Oct. 16, Lett recorded her own admonishment of Trump over his lack of participation, which had come to nothing, and warned that sanctions would follow further failures. In the same order, she noted the BBC had filed five motions on its own because of Trump’s disregard of the rules governing joint filings.

Two Speech Lines, Spliced Together

Trump filed the suit in Miami federal court in December 2025 over the BBC “Panorama” documentary. The edit at issue joined a passage from his Jan. 6, 2021, speech, in which he told supporters to “walk down to the Capitol,” with a later line from the same speech, “we fight like hell.” The film aired a week before the 2024 presidential election.

He is seeking $5 billion for defamation. Another $5 billion is claimed under Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, with Trump arguing he was personally damaged even though the broadcast was not readily available to view in Florida.

An apology for the edit came in November 2025 from Samir Shah, the BBC’s chairman, who acknowledged that it gave the impression of a direct call for violent action. Tim Davie resigned as director-general over the episode, and Deborah Turness resigned as chief executive of BBC News.

At least 47 subpoenas have gone out from the broadcaster since then to current and former government officials and to private advisers in Trump’s circle. That list takes in Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump Jr., former Attorney General Bill Barr and former White House counsel Pat Cipollone. Lett ruled on Oct. 9 that the BBC may serve the first three by certified mail and by email to Trump’s lawyers, because Secret Service protection has blocked in-person service. Former special counsel Jack Smith is the subject of another dispute between the two sides, with Trump’s lawyers calling his testimony duplicative and the BBC calling it key.

Lett said she is bound by the Dec. 18 discovery deadline. Only U.S. District Judge Jeffrey T. Kuntz can extend it, and Tobin said the BBC would accept a later deposition if Kuntz adjusts the schedule.

Tobin said: “The lesson for the day is that no plaintiff is above the law, and no plaintiff is above the orders of the court.”