Arabic version: قاضٍ يسمح بمواصلة دعوى ترامب ضد بي بي سي بتهمة التشهير

According to BBC News, a federal judge in Florida has allowed US President Donald Trump’s $10bn (£7.5bn) defamation lawsuit against the BBC to continue, while dismissing a separate claim under Florida’s unfair trade practices law.

Judge Jeffrey Kuntz found that Trump’s defamation allegations were sufficient for the case to proceed, but did not rule on their merits. In Tuesday’s order, he wrote that whether Trump can prove the claims and establish damages at summary judgment or trial “is left for another day”.

The lawsuit concerns an episode of Panorama that edited together two different sections of a speech Trump gave before the 2021 US Capitol riot. Trump accuses the BBC of “intentionally, maliciously and deceptively doctoring” the speech, delivered outside the Capitol on 6 January 2021. The BBC apologised, saying the broadcast had created “the mistaken impression that Trump made a direct call for violent action”.

Kuntz dismissed Trump’s claim under Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, ruling that the documentary did not constitute commercial speech. The BBC had sought dismissal of the entire case, arguing that the programme did not meet the legal standard for defamation and was not available in the US. Earlier this year, Trump’s lawyers conceded they had no evidence it was available in the US through BritBox, the BBC website, BBC Select or US broadcasters.

Trump called the ruling a “huge victory” on Truth Social. A BBC spokesperson said the broadcaster was surprised but respected the court’s authority, adding that it remained confident in its position and would respond through the legal process. Trump was also ordered last month to answer questions under oath by 11 December after cancelling a previous deposition.