Trump must hand over financial records in BBC lawsuit, court rules
The decision can still be appealed by Trump's legal case
Donald Trump has been told he must hand over financial records from his multiple businesses as part of his $10 billion lawsuit against the BBC.
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The decision came during a US magistrate hearing where a judge granted a request to compel the release of financial records held by the US President's family trust, which he created to manage his businesses during his term.
He is demanding $10bn (£7.5bn) in damages, accusing the BBC of defamation after the BBC's Panorama doctored footage of one of his speeches.
He accused the broadcaster of editing together different sections of his speech on the day of the US Capitol riot on 6 January 2021.
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Judge Enjoliqué Lett ordered Trump to provide evidence to prove his claim his businesses suffered financial loss due to the edit.
The case is focused on the procedure known as discovery which allows the two sides to provide internal or other records that could form evidence.
Lawyers for the broadcaster said it had produced some 87,000 pages of documents, whereas they said Trump's side had released a "sham production" of only 735 pages.
This was said to be made up of news stories and other material "pulled from the internet".
Last week, it emerged the president dropped part of his lawsuit by dismissing the defamation allegations he made against BBC Studios Distribution Limited and BBC Studios Productions Limited.
However, only his claims against its commercial and production branches were dropped, and his lawsuit against the broadcaster remains.
Court documents allege the BBC's edit harmed "the value of his brand, properties, and businesses".
The BBC's lawyers argued earlier this year that the case should be thrown out of the Southern District of Florida court because there was no evidence that the programme, called Trump: A Second Chance?, was viewed in the US.
However, Florida District Judge Roy Altman ordered that a two-week trial be set for February 15 2027.
A two-week trial is set for February 2027.