President Donald Trump “continues to disregard his discovery obligations” in a defamation lawsuit he himself filed, prompting the need for “judicial intervention” and a “firm order” compelling him to comply, according to a new court filing from the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
The turnaround is notable. Not long ago, it was Trump’s own legal team threatening to pursue sanctions against the BBC over its push to depose former White House counsel Pat Cipollone. Now the roles have flipped, with the BBC flagging Trump’s own discovery “deficiencies” for a federal judge in hopes of forcing action.
The notice, filed for U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Kuntz, included an exhibit showing a Sept. 21 email from BBC attorney Charles Tobin to Trump’s lawyer, Alejandro Brito. In the email, Tobin complained that Trump “has agreed—but so far failed—to produce” a batch of documents the defense says could help defeat the $10 billion defamation suit, either on jurisdictional grounds or by undercutting Trump’s ability to “prove that he did not foment or incite the January 6 Capitol riot.”
Love true crime? Sign up for our newsletter, The Law&Crime Docket, to get the latest real-life crime stories delivered right to your inbox.
The email cautioned that if Trump kept delaying or, as Tobin put it, continued to “stonewall production in contravention of his discovery obligations,” the BBC would have no choice but to ask a judge to step in.
A week later, with no response to that warning, the BBC told Kuntz — a Trump appointee — that discovery had become lopsided and that the imbalance needs to end.
“The BBC is complying with its obligations in discovery. Plaintiff, however, has chosen to ignore the instructions of this Court and his obligations under the Rules. With the discovery cutoff of December 18, 2026, the BBC will continue to experience extreme prejudice if Plaintiff continues to disregard his discovery obligations, as is likely unless the Court issues a firm order,” the network said in Friday’s filing. “The BBC therefore respectfully reiterates its request that the Court either set a hearing, or enter an order specifically providing that sanctions will issue to the Plaintiff if he does not immediately comply with his discovery obligations.”
The filing comes after Kuntz quashed the BBC’s subpoena seeking testimony from Cassidy Hutchinson, who previously served as an aide to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and testified before the Jan. 6 Committee. The judge concluded the subpoena amounted to an attempt to “relitigate and discover every aspect of the events of January 6, 2021,” when the case actually revolves around a much “narrow issue.”
“[T]his case is about a documentary aired by the BBC and, specifically, an allegation that the BBC ‘spliced’ two statements together that were actually made more than 55 minutes apart,” Kuntz wrote, adding that the subpoena “definitively” and “unnecessarily burdens a non-party such as Ms. Hutchinson” — who is also currently the “subject” of a criminal investigation by Trump’s Justice Department.
Trump’s lawsuit targets the BBC over its documentary “Trump: A Second Chance,” filed after the network acknowledged the program “gave the mistaken impression that [he] had made a direct call for violent action” on Jan. 6 by splicing together “excerpts from different points” of his Ellipse speech out of their original order.
