A judge has granted Donald Trump's request to delay the handover of financial records to the BBC as part of his $10 billion lawsuit against the broadcaster. The decision came after Trump's legal team filed an emergency motion seeking to pause the disclosure, arguing that releasing the documents would cause "irreparable harm."
The financial records were sought by the BBC as part of its defense in the lawsuit, which stems from a 2024 episode of the BBC's Panorama program. Trump accuses the BBC of "intentionally, maliciously, and deceptively doctoring" a speech he delivered outside the Capitol on January 6, 2021. The BBC has apologized for an editing error that created a "mistaken impression" that Trump had called for violence, but argues the program does not meet the legal criteria for defamation and was not widely available in the United States.
Trump's legal team had requested that the court pause the disclosure until it rules on an objection to the order requiring the release of the financial information. They also sought to amend the core complaint of the lawsuit. Initially, Trump claimed the documentary damaged his brands and businesses. His lawyers now seek to amend the case to claim damages solely for "the reputational injury to the President, full stop."
In a ruling on Thursday, the judge agreed to pause the order for financial information disclosure until the question of amending the case is resolved. The BBC had characterized Trump's request for a delay as a "transparent effort to evade this court's clear and direct order and to continue to avoid the discovery obligations."
Trump also recently agreed to drop BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the broadcaster, from the lawsuit, as the company argued it had no role in producing the documentary. His lawyers had previously admitted they lacked evidence that the documentary was available in the U.S. on platforms like BritBox, BBC.com, or BBC Select, as initially claimed.