A federal judge warned President Donald Trump that he will face sanctions if he continues to disregard her orders in his $10 billion lawsuit against the BBC.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Enjolique Lett issued the warning Friday in a court order directing Trump to respond by Oct. 22 to the BBC’s request to force him to sit for a deposition.
The warning came after months of Trump resisting discovery of evidence on several fronts, court records show. Lett wrote that the BBC filed five motions on its own rather than joint motions because of Trump’s “disregard” of those rules.
“The Court has admonished Plaintiff for his lack of participation to no avail. Going forward, the Court expects strict compliance with its … Order, the failure of which will lead to sanctions,” Lett wrote.
Lett had warned Trump in June, after he failed to give the BBC his side of a joint motion, writing that lawyers “are not permitted to disregard the Court’s orders and procedures” and that failing to respond “may result in sanctions including granting the relief by default,” meaning she could rule for the BBC without hearing from Trump.
Two days before that warning, U.S. District Judge Roy Altman, who was then presiding over the case, ordered Trump’s lawyers to explain why he should not sanction them for “their apparent disregard of court deadlines,” the docket shows. They missed the deadline to respond to the BBC’s motion to dismiss.
That same month, Lett rejected Trump’s bid to remove her, finding that he waited too long to raise the issue and “has only done so when a disputed discovery issue arose.”
The BBC said in a September filing that Trump produced one document on July 14 and had not signed his written answers under oath. Lett ordered him to produce the undisputed records by Oct. 21.
In July, Lett ordered the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust to turn over tax returns, financial statements and ownership records for roughly 400 business entities, CNBC reported. Altman paused that order in August on the day the records were due, after the trust asked for relief and Trump moved to drop his claim that his businesses were harmed.
Trump filed the lawsuit in December, claiming a BBC “Panorama” documentary defamed him by splicing together parts of his Jan. 6, 2021, speech. Lett ruled in August that the BBC “is entitled to discover Plaintiff’s intention behind the speech.”
Trump agreed in July to sit for a deposition on Oct. 16, the BBC said in a motion filed Tuesday.
“[T]he President is no longer available for his deposition on October 16 due to other matters of national importance,” his lawyer Ian Corp wrote on Sept. 28, according to emails the BBC filed.
On Oct. 9, Trump’s lawyers told the BBC he had no availability before discovery closes Dec. 18, the motion said. They offered January 2027, but only if the BBC agreed to extend discovery.
“Plaintiff chose to file this lawsuit and, in doing so, he accepted the obligations of civil litigation,” the BBC’s lawyers wrote.
Lett also ruled Oct. 9 that the BBC could serve subpoenas on the president’s children Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner by certified mail and by email to his lawyers, after the network said their Secret Service protection blocked service in person.
Lett will take up the disputes at a hearing on Oct. 22 in Miami, according to the docket.
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