U.S. District Judge Roy Altman granted a temporary reprieve on Thursday to former President Donald Trump in his $10 billion lawsuit against the BBC. The judge stayed an order that would have required Trump to begin disclosing financial performance details of his business empire.
Altman agreed to pause the disclosure order while he considers an amended complaint from Trump that aims to narrow his claim. Trump's lawyers are hoping that by focusing solely on reputational damage, they can avoid the need for financial disclosures. The specifics of this updated complaint have not been made public.
Trump filed the lawsuit in December, alleging that the BBC defamed him through its editing of a speech he delivered on January 6, 2021, prior to the attack on the U.S. Capitol. He claims the documentary misrepresented his remarks by omitting a section where he urged supporters to demonstrate peacefully. The suit seeks $5 billion for defamation and $5 billion for unfair trade practices.
The BBC has apologized to Trump for the edit but denies the defamation claims. The incident led to the resignations of the BBC's top executive and its head of news.
Altman stated in his order that he found Trump's argument for an amended complaint potentially obviating the need for financial disclosures to be "compelling." The BBC, however, disagrees with this assessment. A magistrate judge in Miami, Enjoliqué Lett, had previously ordered Trump to start releasing financial records from businesses held by his family trust by Thursday.
"If the plaintiff’s amendment obviates the need to compel a non-party to disclose confidential financial information,” Altman wrote, “we think it’s prudent to enter a brief stay of the Order until the amendment request is resolved.”
Seth Stern, advocacy director at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, suggested that Trump could simply drop the lawsuit if the BBC successfully argues that financial data is relevant to reputational harm. Stern noted that Trump has a history of filing lawsuits and withdrawing them before the discovery phase. He believes that even if Trump faces embarrassing headlines, they are unlikely to have a lasting impact.
Stern also contends that the BBC would be justified in arguing that financial data remains relevant, especially given Trump's claim of $10 billion in reputational damages. "You cannot claim $10 billion in reputational damages when you’re the president of the United States and you won the presidential election after the reporting that you’re complaining about," Stern said. "That makes no sense."
He further stated that for Trump to find discovery into his economic damages problematic after seeking such an "outrageous damages number" is "absurd."
The timeline for further legal proceedings remains unclear. A trial is provisionally scheduled for February. This lawsuit is one of several legal actions Trump has initiated against media organizations.
He is also pursuing a separate $10 billion defamation case against The Wall Street Journal over a letter that reportedly bore his signature and was sent to Jeffrey Epstein. Additionally, the Justice Department under Trump issued and later withdrew subpoenas for New York Times journalists who reported on security concerns related to a new Air Force One jet.
Trump has also engaged in disputes with ABC, including an early review by his Federal Communications Commission of eight of its local broadcast licenses. The FCC chairman also proposed revoking "The View's" exemption from equal-time rules, a show where some hosts have been critical of Trump.
The Associated Press previously sued Trump over the White House press pool's access, after the organization was curtailed for using the term "Gulf of Mexico" instead of the administration's preferred "Gulf of America." The AP maintained its use of the term was due to the body of water crossing borders, while also noting Trump's renaming.
Stern believes Trump will continue to file lawsuits, even those with little chance of winning, unless courts begin sanctioning his attorneys for frivolous filings. He suggests Trump views these suits as a means to impose costs, time, and distraction on defendants, while leveraging the initial splash of a large lawsuit for headlines that may later become an afterthought.