In an ironic twist, Donald Trump could be in a legal pickle, caught in a beef with the BBC that he started himself. As a refresher, the President filed an outrageous $10B lawsuit against the well-known media company for defamation regarding a documentary about January 6, 2021. Trump claims he wasn’t responsible for instigating the Capitol riot on that fateful day and accuses the BBC of framing it as if he was.
According to Law and Crime, the BBC says it complied with its discovery obligations, meaning it has done its part in gathering relevant evidence for the lawsuit. However, President Trump has not yet provided his, despite agreeing to this whole ordeal. Now, it’s giving him a discovery cutoff of December 18, 2026, as Trump has “continued to disregard his discovery obligations.”
The BBC Wants a Judge to Warn Trump Over the Discovery Dispute
The BBC has attempted to reach out to no avail until, finally, on September 25, it reached out to Judge Jeffrey Kuntz to get involved. What the British broadcaster wants the President to do is have Kuntz hold a hearing about the discovery dispute or warn Trump about the sanctions that would be imposed if he doesn’t cooperate.
To be clear, the BBC isn’t directly threatening the President with sanctions or accusing him of violating anything. He wanted this legal battle, so now he’s been firmly asked to do his part of what a lawsuit entails and hand over his evidence to defend his stance against the alleged defamation.
Just because Kuntz would be on the case doesn’t mean he’s pro-BBC or anti-Trump either. The judge reportedly pushed back against the media conglomerate, quashing a subpoena of Cassidy Hutchinson, a former White House aide. Kuntz said this case presents a “narrow issue,” and didn’t see any need to “relitigate and discover every aspect of the events of January 6, 2021” with a subpoena.
Related: Judge Lets YouTuber LegalEagle Serve President Trump a Subpoena by ‘Certified Mail’
The courtroom situation has now been reversed, as President Trump initiated things by suing the BBC for $10B, threatening sanctions against it. Now, the BBC wants Judge Kuntz to threaten Trump with sanctions if he doesn’t hurry up with his discovery. He has roughly 3 months left to comply.
