Former President Donald Trump has accused the BBC of harassing his family by attempting to subpoena his children and their spouses to testify in his $10 billion defamation lawsuit. Lawyers for the broadcaster asked a Florida court to compel testimony from Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, and her husband Jared Kushner after efforts to serve legal documents were reportedly blocked by the U.S. Secret Service.
The legal battle stems from a 2024 BBC Panorama documentary that examined the events leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots. The program spliced together portions of a speech given by Trump before the riot, which his legal team claims gave the impression he encouraged supporters to storm Congress after his 2020 election loss. Trump's team asserts he actually called for peaceful protests.
A spokesperson for Trump's legal team stated that the BBC "intentionally defamed" the former president and is now "abusing the deposition process" to harass him, his family, and supporters, asserting this is an attempt to distract from the BBC's "own obvious liability."
The BBC denies defaming Trump, with its lawyers arguing that his family "without question have personal knowledge" of the events surrounding Jan. 6 and could provide insight into his intentions. The case is scheduled to go to trial in February 2027.
Separately, Jared Kushner was in Egypt to meet with Hamas leaders alongside Sir Tony Blair. The pair, along with the director of Trump's Board of Peace, Nickolay Mladenov, were also slated to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem. This visit is understood to be part of efforts to salvage a Middle East peace deal.