President Donald Trump lost another case; this time, it was his attempt to sue the BBC for libel for $5 to $10 billion.
Trump sued in Miami, accusing the BBC of “intentionally, maliciously and deceptively doctoring” his Jan. 6, 2021, speech to his "stop the steal" rally goers.
The BBC spliced two parts of the speech together for a documentary that aired in October 2024, and Trump called that maliciously doctoring.
The BBC responded by calling Trump's case a “fishing expedition," court filings showed, according to The Guardian.
As part of their defense, the BBC requested details of the financial damage to Trump. That required access to all of his finances, which Trump refused. His lawyer claimed it was too broad and there were simply too many documents.
The lawyer alleged the request was “disproportionate” and “encompasses individuals and entities that have no connection to the issues in dispute." It amounted to “tens of thousands of documents” that the law firm would be forced to return in 30 days. Such a timeframe was “unreasonable … and improper,” the lawyers claimed.
By contrast, Trump only requested about 45,000 documents from BBC, a list of 503 requests.
Politico reported that the BBC asked the judge one month ago to toss the case, but the judge hasn't yet.
On Monday, Judge Roy Altman, one of Trump's own nominees, issued a "benchslap," as Politico legal reporter Josh Gerstein characterized it.
"The Plaintiff's response to the Defendant's Motion to Dismiss was due on June 5, 2026. See Paperless order Extending Briefing Schedule," the Judge began. "Rather than timely file his response, the Plaintiff filed two eleventh-hour procedural motions the day his response was due. Neither motion explained why the Plaintiff delayed so long in seeking the requested relief or asked that we extend the response deadline pending our adjudication of the motions. And, as of this writing, the Plaintiff has missed the deadline to file his response. Accordingly, we hereby ORDER that by June 10, 2026, the Plaintiff shall file a notice on the docket explaining (1) whether we should consider the motion to dismiss unopposed and (2) why we shouldn't sanction the Plaintiff's counsel for their apparent disregard of court deadlines."
