President Donald Trump has asked a federal judge in Miami to reject the BBC's request for court help in obtaining testimony and documents from three of his family members as part of his $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the British broadcaster.

In a Friday filing, Trump's personal lawyers argued that the BBC is seeking "politically-driven leverage" by serving subpoenas on Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner, and Donald Trump Jr. The filing also accused the BBC of running a "politically charged discovery campaign" and a "sweeping investigation disguised as discovery."

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Kuntz, a Trump appointee who inherited the case less than a week ago, did not immediately rule on the dispute. The previous judge had set a February trial date.

The BBC's request

The BBC filed a motion on August 14 asking the court to allow service of subpoenas on the three family members by certified mail, after in-person attempts failed. According to the president's lawyers, a process server in May tried to serve Ivanka Trump and Kushner at their residence but Secret Service agents said they were not authorized to accept the subpoenas. A later attempt at Trump Tower in New York to serve Donald Trump Jr. also failed.

BBC lawyers have said the family members "have personal knowledge and likely have possession, custody, or control of records relevant to multiple elements of Plaintiff's claims against the BBC." They also said they had "endeavored to resolve this issue without seeking the Court's assistance" and had unsuccessfully asked Secret Service agents to accept the subpoenas.

The BBC has separately asked the court to dismiss Trump's amended lawsuit, arguing that it never broadcast the documentary in the United States and therefore lacks jurisdiction. It noted that Trump's claim that hundreds of U.S. viewers streamed the program via VPN was based on "unreliable data" and that even the 34 streams allegedly traced to Florida were merely "unconfirmed, unauthorized attempts."

"Exercising jurisdiction based on the mere possibility of unauthorized access via VPN—which no court has done—would upend personal jurisdiction jurisprudence and have massive implications for foreign companies with online presences," BBC lawyers wrote.

The underlying lawsuit

Trump sued the BBC in December over a Panorama episode, "Trump: A Second Chance?," that aired a week before the 2024 election. The lawsuit alleges the BBC deceptively edited his January 6, 2021 speech, splicing together two passages spoken nearly fifty-five minutes apart to make it appear he said, "We're going to walk down to the Capitol … and I'll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell."

The suit claims the editing was a "brazen attempt to interfere in and influence" the 2024 election and constituted defamation, deceptive trade practices, and unfair competition. Trump is seeking $10 billion in damages.

The BBC has apologized for the misleading edit, calling it an "error of judgment," but has denied defaming Trump. The controversy led to the resignations of BBC director general Tim Davie and news chief Deborah Turness. The broadcaster took the episode down from its platforms.

The BBC argues that Trump cannot show reputational harm because he won the 2024 election and carried Florida by a wide margin, and that the documentary was never broadcast in the U.S. It also argues the program contained protected expressions of opinion and that Trump has failed to establish actual malice.

Trump's opposition

Trump's lawyers wrote that the relief the BBC seeks "cannot be segregated" from a politically charged discovery campaign that the court already ruled "improperly overbroad." They accused the BBC of "harassment of the President's family, associates, staff, and officials" and a "boundless re-investigation" of January 6, 2021.

They also suggested that interactions involving Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner are protected by executive privilege because both served as advisers to the president. The filing cites a U.S. Department of Justice memo stating that executive privilege shields communication even with private advisers outside the executive branch. Senator Adam Schiff said in an August 11 statement that the DOJ opinion should be seen as a partisan effort to shield the president from congressional subpoenas.

Trump's filing also noted that the BBC has not actually placed the family subpoenas before the court, even as it seeks a "sweeping order" authorizing service. The case was transferred to Judge Kuntz on August 17.

A trial has been listed for February 2027, according to one report, though the earlier judge had set a February trial date that may have been superseded.

Status

The federal court in southern Florida has yet to rule on the BBC's subpoena requests or its motion to dismiss. The BBC has said it will "robustly defend" the case and continues to challenge Florida's jurisdiction. A spokesman said the documentary "was never aired anywhere in the US, including the state of Florida."