'Huge victory' for Donald Trump as judge allows $10bn defamation against BBC to proceed

Donald Trump has hailed a "huge victory" in his $10billion (£7.5billion) defamation lawsuit against the BBC after a US judge blocked the broadcaster's bid to have the case thrown out.

Yesterday, Florida district judge Jeffrey Kuntz ruled the President had plausibly alleged reputational harm over the BBC's editing of a 2024 Panorama documentary about the US Capitol riots.

The corporation faced heavy backlash after giving the impression Mr Trump had encouraged his supported to storm the Capitol building on January 6, 2021, after splicing together two sections of his speech.

The judge also accepted that the President's legal team had adequately alleged actual malice, pointing to the 55-minute gap between the two parts of his address and the BBC chairman's own admission it did appear to give a misleading impression to the audience.

The BBC had pleaded for the case to be thrown out, claiming the lawsuit would have a "chilling effect" on “robust reporting on public figures and events”.

But in his ruling, Judge Kuntz wrote: “Accepting the allegations in the complaint as true, the Court finds Trump plausibly pled damages where Trump alleges a defamatory documentary released toward the election caused reputational harm.

“It would be difficult for the Court to accept a different framing without completely negating the significance and fragility of political elections.”

Although the judge did not rule whether Mr Trump's claims against the broadcaster were true, the judge said that “Trump’s allegations regarding BBC’s departure from journalistic standards are more than enough to plausibly alleged more than mere negligence”.

He also said the case could not be thrown out because the BBC's editing of the documentary was not merely “trimming around the edges but creating something different than what was stated”.

However, the Florida judge did not accept the President's allegation the broadcaster had broke the state's Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.

He ruled that Mr Trump must show he suffered “actual damages” as a result of the Panorama documentary airing.

Taking to his Truth Social platform yesterday evening, the President hailed the "highly respected" judge for his ruling as he declared a "huge victory against fake news BBC, a terrible abuser of the truth".

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He continued: "In his powerful ruling, Judge Kuntz wrote, 'Here, the news entity created the story. BBC admitted as much by confirming it had edited a video to make it appear as though President Trump made a statement he never made'."

Mr Trump vowed to "continue fighting against, and defeating, all of those who try to deceive the American people".

Following the ruling, the President must now provide sworn testimony to the court by December 11.

This will give the BBC's legal representatives an opportunity to probe the President over the alleged reputational damage he suffered as a direct result of the Panorama documentary airing.

When he announced legal proceedings against the BBC in December last year, the President had initially attempted to sue the corporation for damage to his reputation, brand, properties and businesses.

However, he later dropped the claims of damage to his brand, properties and businesses after the BBC requested he hand over records relating to his wealth.

A spokesman for the BBC said: “We are surprised by this decision but respect the court’s authority and note the case will now proceed to the next stage.

“We remain confident in our position and will continue to respond through the proper legal process. It would be inappropriate to comment further while proceedings are ongoing.”

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