President Donald Trump's lawsuit against the BBC is about to implode, legal experts reported on Tuesday.
National trial lawyer and strategist Michael Popok, the host of the "Legal AF" podcast, discussed with legal analyst and MeidasTouch co-founder Ben Meiselas how Trump's attempts to sue the BBC for $10 billion — after he accused the broadcaster of deceptively editing a documentary about his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot — were likely to come back to haunt him.
"Donald Trump's litigation strategy seems to be blowing up in his face," Popok said. "The BBC and their defamation defense want to take the testimony and obtain documents from 47 different entities because they tell a federal judge that they've got to prove that Donald Trump actually did foment an insurrection and led an insurrection. See, Donald Trump couldn't leave well enough alone. The law of unintended consequences — obviously not something taught at Penn when Trump attended there — because look at all these unintended consequences."
Popok pointed to how the BBC had already apologized to Trump.
"They already said, 'sorry, we put together a 12-second clip about your ellipse speech,' but the heart of it, the heart of our reporting is still accurate," Popok said.
But Trump didn't think that was enough, Popok argued. And he sued for $10 billion.
"Not only that, he made a decision that he didn't want to stop discovery — 'I have nothing to hide,'" Popok added, mocking Trump's move.
But that backfired.
"And then when 47 subpoenas came flying into his family and Jack Smith and everybody else, suddenly he's got something to hide," Popok said. "Same kind of backfire that we're seeing with the weaponization fund, the anti-weaponization fund. This is just giving the Democrats — and strengthening their hand — the ability to attack Donald Trump as corrupt and get Republicans to back it. It's just mind-boggling how many mistakes Donald Trump makes because all he does is fight without any strategy or tactics."
Trump has filed multiple $10 billion lawsuits, including the one against the BBC, the IRS and the U.S. Treasury Department, Meiselas explained.
"All the $10 billion lawsuits are backfiring in his face," Meiselas said.
"Donald Trump's refusing to turn over all financial records in discovery," Meiselas added. "Surprise, surprise. When you stand up for Donald Trump and you do aggressive discovery and litigation, Donald Trump backs down."
