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On Tuesday, a judge in Miami denied President Donald Trump's attempt to block dozens of subpoenas issued by the British Broadcasting Corp. to members of his inner circle.
The subpoenas are part of the BBC's defense against Trump's $10 billion defamation suit over a documentary about his conduct on Jan. 6, 2021. The claim seeks $5 billion in damages for defamation and a further $5 billion for unfair trade practices.
The judge ruled that the president must turn over detailed financial information in the case.
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“All of President Trump’s brand, properties, and businesses are impugned or said to have been impugned. Reputational, economic damages, all of that is now at issue in this case,” U.S. Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué Lett said at the conclusion of a three-hour hearing.
During the hearing, Lett said that while the BBC may need to narrow the information it seeks, the subpoenas are reasonable, given the breadth of Trump’s lawsuit.
However, Trump can now appeal the ruling to U.S. District Court Judge Roy Altman, a Trump appointee, although his attorney, Alejandro Brito, declined to comment on the ruling or whether it will be appealed.
In December, Trump sued the British company over its use of a "misleading" edit of a fiery speech he made to his supporters shortly before a mob attacked the Capitol in January 2021, indicating that Trump had instigated violence. In November, the BBC apologized, admitting that the edit gave “the impression of a direct call for violent action.” But the BBC rejects claims it defamed him.
The BBC contended that the subpoenas would help establish Trump's mindset and intentions on the day of the speech, asserting that he would now prove he did not incite the riot to show the BBC had defamed him by suggesting otherwise. The BBC has issued subpoenas to Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner, Steve Bannon, Stephen Miller, and Michael Flynn.
Trump's defense team backed away from some of the initial damage claims, giving up on claims that the 2024 BBC documentary had caused him economic injuries and diminished the value of his companies.
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Brito told Lett that Trump is only pursuing damages to his reputation now, not to his businesses.
“The damages are limited in a way that is different from when the case was originally filed,” Brito said in court. “Even if there has been a harm to the brand, we are not pursuing that as part of our damages... It’s a far more narrow scope of what this case is about.”
Charles Torbing, a lawyer for the BBC, argued the distinction Trump's lawyers were seeking to establish between his personal reputation and his business was meaningless.
“He ran for president of the United States on a platform of the art of the deal,” Tobin said. “You cannot separate the man and his reputation from his operation of his businesses.”
The judge ruled that she lacked the authority to dismiss the allegations of business damages from the complaint.
The BBC's lawyer argued that the financial records would prove that instead of the claim of loss to business since the documentary aired, the president's wealth has increased by more than $1 billon in the last year.
