A $10billion (£7.2bn) defamation lawsuit brought against the BBC by US President Donald Trump will go to trial in 2027, a Florida judge has ordered. The case is set for a two-week hearing at the Wilkie D Ferguson Jr US Courthouse in Miami from February 15 next year.
Court documents list the plaintiff as President Donald J Trump, with the British Broadcasting Corporation et al as defendants. The BBC had taken legal steps to have the lawsuit, brought over the editing of a Panorama programme, dismissed.
Panorama faced criticism late last year over an episode broadcast in 2024 for appearing to give the impression the US president had encouraged his supporters to storm the Capitol building in 2021.
In the episode, a clip from Mr Trump’s speech on January 6 2021 was spliced to show him saying: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol… and I’ll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell.”
Mr Trump is seeking up to 10 billion dollars (£7.5 billion) in damages in response to the editing of his speech, with his lawyers claiming it was “false and defamatory”.
The BBC previously filed a motion to dismiss, claiming the Florida court lacks “personal jurisdiction” over the corporation, the court venue is “improper” and that Mr Trump has “failed to state a claim”, according to court documents.
The corporation argued that it did not create, produce or broadcast the documentary in Florida and that Mr Trump’s claim that the documentary was available in the US on streaming service BritBox is not true.
A BBC spokesperson said: “As we have made clear previously, we will be defending this case.
“We are not going to make further comment on ongoing legal proceedings.”
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