The BBC has asked a federal court in Florida to help it obtain documents and testimony from Ivanka Trump, her husband Jared Kushner, and Donald Trump Jr. in connection with President Trump's $10 billion lawsuit against the British broadcaster, according to a court filing.
Lawyers for the BBC argued that all three have 'personal knowledge' and are likely to hold records relevant to elements of Trump's claims, the filing states. The broadcaster has been unable to serve subpoenas because the three are surrounded by Secret Service protection and other security personnel. The BBC asked the court to allow subpoenas to be served by email and certified mail.
The lawsuit's origins
Trump filed the suit in December, accusing the BBC of defamation as well as deceptive and unfair trade practices and seeking $10 billion in damages. The allegations center on a 2024 documentary that edited a speech Trump gave on January 6, 2021, before protesters attacked the Capitol. The lawsuit accuses the BBC of 'splicing together two entirely separate parts of President Trump's speech' to 'intentionally misrepresent the meaning of what President Trump said.' It further alleged the editing was 'a brazen attempt to interfere in and influence' the 2024 U.S. presidential election.
The BBC has apologized to Trump for the misleading edit but said it had not defamed him.
Family members as witnesses
The BBC's filing argued that the Trump family members had knowledge relevant to Trump's argument 'that it would be materially false to imply that he incited violence' on January 6, 2021. It cited that Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump were both present in the Oval Office when Trump was still revising his speech, and that Donald Trump Jr. spoke directly with his father after violence had broken out at the Capitol.
The filing also states that the BBC asked Trump to accept the subpoenas on his daughter and son-in-law's behalf, or to direct the Secret Service to allow them to be served — and that he refused.
The judge gave Trump's legal team until Friday to respond to the BBC's request.
Trump's legal team pushed back sharply. 'The BBC is simply trying to distract away from their own obvious liability,' the team said. 'The BBC intentionally defamed President Donald J. Trump, and now the BBC is seeking to harass him, his family, and supporters by abusing the deposition process,' according to the team.
A parallel front
Separately, last week U.S. District Judge Roy Altman agreed to put on hold an earlier order requiring Trump to provide details of his business empire's financial performance, while he considers an amended complaint that would narrow Trump's claim that he suffered damage to both business and reputation.
CEO Times take: The BBC's maneuver — using a U.S. federal court to reach into the President's inner circle — is a litigation strategy that cuts both ways. If the broadcaster believed its documentary was defensible journalism, the path forward would be straightforward. Instead, it is asking an American court to compel testimony from family members who hold Secret Service protection, a move Trump's team correctly identifies as pressure tactics. The $10 billion figure is not window dressing; it is a signal that media institutions face real accountability when editorial choices cross from bias into alleged manipulation. Capital and credibility travel together — and right now, the BBC's account of both is under audit.
