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BBC seeks US court help to subpoena Trump family in $10B case
The BBC says it could not serve subpoenas because Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner, and Donald Trump Jr. have Secret Service protection, and their records may be relevant to claims over a 2024 documentary edit.
Britain’s BBC has asked a US court for assistance in obtaining documents and testimony from members of President Donald Trump’s family in connection with his US$10 billion defamation lawsuit against the broadcaster, according to a court filing.
BBC lawyers argued in the filing that Ivanka Trump, her husband Jared Kushner, and Donald Trump Jr. have personal knowledge and are likely to hold records relevant to elements of Trump’s claims. The filing also said the broadcaster has been unable to serve subpoenas because the three have Secret Service protection and other security staff around them.
The lawsuit, filed in December, seeks US$10 billion in damages from the BBC, alleging defamation and deceptive and unfair trade practices. The dispute centers on how a 2024 documentary edited a speech Trump gave on January 6, 2021, ahead of the Capitol attack.
Trump’s complaint accuses the BBC of splicing together two parts of the speech to misrepresent what he said, describing the editing as an attempt to influence the 2024 US presidential election. The BBC has apologized to Trump for the misleading edit but says it did not defame him, the filing states.