Judge temporarily halts financial handover order in Trump libel lawsuit against BBC

A federal judge has temporarily halted an order requiring Donald Trump to turn over detailed financial information about his business empire to the BBC as part of an ongoing libel lawsuit.

US district judge Roy Altman issued the temporary pause while he considers Trump’s request to revise and narrow parts of his lawsuit against the BBC over a 2024 documentary that aired in the UK.

Trump’s legal team sought to stop the discovery order that would have given the BBC access to the president’s financial records in the multibillion-dollar case.

Trump has argued the BBC’s 2024 documentary about the January 6 attack harmed his business interests. Last month, a Miami-based judge ruled that Trump would have to begin producing extensive financial records by 6 August, including information covering the hundreds of businesses held by the Trump family trust.

On Wednesday, Trump’s attorneys asked the court to temporarily suspend that order, arguing the BBC had demanded a “shockingly broad amount of information based on clearly political motivations”.

In a four-page order signed on Wednesday and released on Thursday, Altman said Trump’s effort to remove his claims that the documentary damaged his brand and businesses could reduce the BBC’s need to obtain his financial records. Trump’s lawyers are seeking to narrow the claim to alleged reputational harm.

The BBC has argued that Trump’s business value remains relevant because his public reputation was closely linked to his success as a businessman.

The broadcaster’s lawyers also pointed out that Trump’s proposed amended complaint, which has not yet been made public, still seeks $10bn in damages. They contend that amount would be difficult to support if the case was based only on reputational harm.

At the center of the lawsuit is a scene from the BBC documentary Trump: A Second Chance, which edited together portions of Trump’s 6 January 2021 speech in a way that made it appear he directly encouraged supporters to attack the US Capitol. The BBC has apologized for the edit but maintains the defamation allegations lack merit.

The lawsuit is part of a series of legal actions Trump has launched against media organizations over coverage he says is defamatory or unfair.

In a separate case, Trump’s attorneys argued that his $10bn defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal should proceed to trial after the newspaper reported on a “bawdy” letter the president was said to have contributed to a birthday book for Jeffrey Epstein in 2003.