The Secret Service has blocked the BBC from serving Donald Trump Jr. with a subpoena seeking his Jan. 6 communications, according to a court filing Friday.
The British Broadcasting Corporation disclosed the blockade in a filing that accused the Justice Department of a conflict of interest — fighting the same subpoena in court that a fellow executive branch agency was stopping on the ground.
President Donald Trump sued the BBC in December, seeking $10 billion over a Panorama documentary that spliced together two portions of his Jan. 6, 2021 Ellipse speech — separated by nearly an hour — to make it appear he had directly urged supporters to "fight like hell" and storm the Capitol. The president claims the edit defamed him and damaged his brand.
Rather than settle, the BBC went on offense. It issued 47 subpoenas to the elder Trump's inner circle, seeking documents and communications that would shed light on his intent and state of mind before and during the speech. Recipients included Trump Jr.; Ivanka Trump, his daughter and former White House adviser; Jared Kushner, his son-in-law and former senior adviser; former White House strategist Steve Bannon; former senior adviser Stephen Miller; and former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.
The president must prove he did not incite the riot to win the case, and the broadcaster gets to ask whether he did.
The subpoena to Trump Jr. sought all documents he gave to or received from the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Special Counsel Jack Smith's grand jury, and any other federal or state agency. It also demanded all drafts of the elder Trump's Jan. 6 speech and all communications about those drafts.
The Justice Department tried to block the subpoenas by filing a Statement of Interest, a legal tool that allows the government to weigh in on a court dispute even when it is not a party to the case, court records show.
"Ironically," the BBC's filing read, "the government complains about the subpoena to Mr. Trump Jr. even though the government itself — specifically, the U.S. Secret Service — has to date prevented Defendant from serving that subpoena on Mr. Trump Jr."
In other words, the Justice Department is fighting in court against a subpoena the Secret Service has already rendered unservable.
The BBC pressed further, arguing the Justice Department has no business being in the case at all. The president, the broadcaster noted in court documents, is simultaneously the plaintiff suing the BBC and the commander-in-chief of every agency now fighting on his behalf.
The filing cited a ruling issued just this week by U.S. District Judge Kathleen M. Williams in a separate case, in which she found that the president had tried to "manipulate the judicial process" and that the Justice Department had acted improperly by taking his side rather than defending the government's interests.
"The President has forbidden federal agencies from advancing any legal position — however legitimate or well-reasoned — contrary to that held by Plaintiff in this matter, President Trump," the filing said, quoting Judge Williams' ruling.
The court, the BBC argued, should give the government's filing no weight whatsoever.
A discovery hearing on the subpoena disputes is scheduled for July 21, according to court records.
