Judge lets Trump’s $10 billion defamation suit against BBC move ahead
What’s next: The defamation claim advances in Florida, but the judge threw out a separate unfair trade practices count.
A federal judge in Florida allowed President Donald Trump’s $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the BBC to proceed, finding he plausibly alleged the broadcaster damaged his reputation with a misleadingly edited clip tied to his Jan. 6, 2021 speech. US District Judge Jeffrey Kuntz dismissed Trump’s separate claim under Florida’s unfair trade practices law, ruling the Panorama documentary was not commercial speech. Trump sued in December 2025, accusing the BBC of splicing together parts of his speech to suggest he urged supporters to storm the US Capitol while leaving out his call for peaceful protest. The BBC has acknowledged the edits were misleading and apologized, but it denies defamation liability.