US judge orders Trump to sit for deposition in BBC lawsuit

A US federal judge ordered US President Donald Trump to sit for a deposition by December 11 in his US $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the BBC after Trump backed out of the original October 16 date, claiming "there was an issue of national importance."

"Earlier today, a magistrate judge ordered President Donald Trump to sit for a deposition by December 11th in a $10 billion defamation case against the BBC.

There had previously been a deposition scheduled for October 16th, but Trump had to back out.

He said there was an issue of national importance.

The defence said that Trump had actually gone to a campaign event in Georgia, but Trump's own attorneys pushed back on that, saying that there are many issues of national and international importance that a president has to deal with, and he just couldn't make the time to sit for what could potentially be a seven-hour deposition.", says David Fischer from The Associated Press.

The order from US Magistrate Judge Enjolique Lett followed complaints from the BBC's legal team that Trump had repeatedly delayed his appearance in the case.

The judge warned that failure to comply by the deadline could result in sanctions, including the dismissal of the lawsuit.

Trump filed the lawsuit last December over a documentary that edited footage of his speech prior to the January 6 Capitol insurrection.

While the BBC apologised for the editing, it strongly denies claims that it defamed the president.