President Donald Trump’s legal team attacked the BBC for revealing that he spent the day of a deposition he had canceled over “national importance” at a campaign rally and a fundraiser.
In a federal court filing Wednesday, Trump’s lawyers asked a judge to reject the BBC’s bid to force him to sit for the deposition in his $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the network.
The lawyers also accused the BBC of “abusing” the court’s rules by publicly filing that information, and asked the judge to sanction the network.
In July, Trump’s lawyers proposed the Oct. 16 date, but only if the BBC held off asking the court for help, according to an earlier BBC motion. They also promised to begin advising “those who are responsible for handling the President’s schedule and security detail” and to coordinate the location.
On Sept. 28, Trump attorney Ian Corp wrote to the BBC, “We have been advised that the President is no longer available for his deposition on October 16 due to other matters of national importance. We will endeavor to provide you with a replacement date by the end of this week.”
No new date came, according to the BBC.
On Oct. 9, Trump’s lawyers told the network he had no availability before the evidence-gathering phase of the case closes Dec. 18, the BBC’s motion said. They offered the second or third week of January 2027, but only if the BBC agreed to extend that deadline, and named no date.
Twice, Trump’s side offered to schedule the deposition only in exchange for a concession from the network.
In a notice filed Monday, the BBC told the judge, “As the BBC now knows, on October 16, [Trump] attended and addressed a campaign rally in Dalton, Georgia, alongside [his] favored candidates in Georgia’s upcoming U.S. Senate and gubernatorial elections.”
“[He] subsequently traveled to his resort club and residence at Mar-a-Lago for a Republican National Committee fundraising event,” the BBC wrote.
In Wednesday’s filing, Trump’s lawyers wrote, “Defendant is wrong to claim that President Trump is avoiding his deposition in this action.”
“[The matters of national importance] include, but are not limited to, the conflict in Iran, unrest in other parts of the Middle East, the war between Russia and Ukraine, the White House Accord on Super Intelligence, and other matters that have significantly impacted the United States’ national security and economy,” they wrote.
The filing did not say how those matters conflicted with Oct. 16.
“Defendant’s Notice is another example of Defendant misconstruing and abusing the Court’s Order Setting Discovery Procedures,” Trump’s lawyers wrote, adding that the BBC had filed such notices “in an attempt to unlawfully gain a tactical advantage against President Trump.”
“The Court should direct Defendant to cease this tactic and issue sanctions to Defendant as it sees appropriate,” the filing said.
“That is all President Trump seeks here: a date within a defined window and a setting that the Secret Service can secure,” the filing said. His lawyers had already agreed on a July date and taken charge of the setting, according to the BBC.
The filing’s requests go beyond what it says is “all” Trump seeks, asking the judge to schedule the deposition between Jan. 11 and Jan. 22, 2027, limit who may attend and hold it “without any video recording.”
The filing also asks the judge to extend the Dec. 18 deadline and says Trump has no objection to delaying the trial if necessary.
The judge has set a hearing on the dispute for Thursday.
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