Trump’s lawyers in BBC lawsuit open the door to exposing all of his financial records — and scramble to close it
A Florida judge ruled Trump's own complaint made his finances fair game — now he's rewriting the suit rather than let BBC see the books.
President Donald J. Trump, plaintiff in a $10 billion lawsuit against the BBC, received a temporary reprieve on Thursday from a U.S. District Judge Roy Altman in Florida. The judge has put on hold an order requiring Trump to begin disclosing details of his family trust’s financial performance.
The 2019 Trump appointee judge ruled that if Trump's amended complaint removes the need for financial disclosures, the order should be temporarily halted while the amendment request is resolved. The lawsuit, filed in December, stems from the BBC's 2024 documentary that edited a 2021 speech by Trump before the Capitol attack. Trump claims the editing was misleading, seeking $5 billion in damages for defamation and $5 billion for unfair trade practices.
The BBC has denied the defamation claims, stating it only apologized for the edit. The case has sparked resignations of the BBC's top executive and head of news. Judge Altman found Trump's new argument compelling, but the BBC disagrees.
Seth Stern, advocacy director at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, believes Trump's legal strategy may be overreaching. He suggests that if the BBC proves successful in arguing that financial data is relevant to reputational harm, Trump might dismiss the lawsuit before reaching the discovery phase. Stern argues that the BBC's financial data request would be pertinent, considering Trump's claim of $10 billion in reputational harm.
Currently, the BBC trial is scheduled for February, but the legal proceedings are likely to continue, as Trump has initiated multiple lawsuits against media organizations he disagrees with.
Written by urgent.news from Fortune's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — it may contain errors, so check the original before relying on it.
