Judge Lets Trump’s $10 Billion Defamation Suit Against the BBC Proceed

A federal judge in Florida refused on Tuesday to throw out President Donald Trump’s $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the BBC, ruling that the broadcaster’s editing of his Jan. 6, 2021 speech could plausibly support a claim of actual malice.

The case turns on a 12-second segment in the BBC Panorama program “Trump: A Second Chance,” broadcast on Oct. 28, 2024, a week before the presidential election. According to the court order, the segment joined “we’re going to walk down to the Capitol and I’ll be there with you” to “we fight like hell,” words the complaint says were spoken nearly 55 minutes apart. The BBC’s chairman later wrote to Trump that the edit “gave the mistaken impression that you had made a direct call for violent action,” calling it an editorial error.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey T. Kuntz of the Southern District of Florida wrote: “On its face, the editing may independently establish the plausibility of actual malice.” He rejected the BBC’s argument that the edit was ordinary condensing of a long speech. “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. “This was not trimming around the edges but creating something different than what was stated in the speech,” he added, noting that the BBC had the entire speech available to it for nearly three years by the time the program aired.

What the ruling does and does not decide

The order decides only that the case may proceed. Trump must still prove actual malice, the standard public figures face in defamation suits, and actual damages. “Whether President Trump can prove these claims and establish he sustained damages at summary judgment or trial is left for another day,” Kuntz wrote. The judge also dismissed Trump’s separate claim under Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, finding that the documentary did not amount to commercial speech.

The BBC must file its answer to the surviving defamation count by Dec. 1. Trump was ordered by a magistrate judge on Oct. 27 to sit for a deposition by Dec. 11, though his lawyers said on Nov. 10 that they will ask to move the deposition to Jan. 11-22, 2027 and to extend discovery, pretrial deadlines and the trial date. Trial was scheduled for February 2027.

A contrast with the Wall Street Journal case

The ruling came ten days after a different judge in the same court threw out Trump’s defamation case against the Wall Street Journal. Kuntz distinguished Trump’s earlier claims against CNN and Dow Jones, writing: “Those cases involved a news entity reporting on a story. Here, the news entity created the story.” Kuntz, a former Florida appeals judge nominated by Trump and confirmed by the Senate by 51 votes to 46, took over the case in August.

Reaction split along familiar lines. A BBC spokesperson said: “We are surprised by this decision but respect the Court’s authority and note the case will now proceed to the next stage.” The spokesperson added: “We remain confident in our position and will continue to respond through the proper legal process.” Trump wrote on Truth Social: “A Huge Victory against Fake News BBC, a terrible abuser of the truth, just handed down by highly respected District Court Judge, Jeffrey T. Kuntz, of the Southern District of Florida.”

The BBC apologized for the edit but denied that it defamed Trump. Director General Tim Davie and news chief Deborah Turness resigned amid the controversy. Trump first sued the BBC in December 2025, seeking $5 billion; the amended complaint seeks $10 billion.

Reporting based on coverage by TheWrap and Corporate INTL.