President Donald Trump has narrowed the scope of his $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the BBC, withdrawing allegations that the broadcaster’s reporting damaged his businesses and brand while continuing to pursue the case based on claims of personal reputational harm.
Trump originally filed the lawsuit in December, alleging the BBC defamed him through a Panorama documentary connected to the network’s coverage of his Jan. 6, 2021, speech before the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
In an emergency motion filed Thursday, Trump’s legal team revised the complaint, abandoning its previous argument that the broadcaster’s reporting caused financial harm to the president’s business empire.
“The plaintiff no longer intends to pursue a damages theory premised on injury to the plaintiff’s brands and businesses,” Trump’s attorneys wrote in the filing. “It is simply the reputational injury to the president, full stop.”
Although the revised complaint removes claims involving harm to Trump’s commercial interests, the president is continuing to seek $10 billion in damages from the BBC.
The change followed a court order requiring Trump to produce financial records after he previously argued that the broadcaster’s reporting had inflicted economic damage on his businesses.
Trump’s legal team challenged that discovery request, arguing the order was excessively broad and would impose significant consequences if enforced.
In court filings, the president’s attorneys described the disclosure order as “shockingly broad” and argued that complying with it would cause “irreparable harm” to the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, which oversees the president’s business holdings.
The legal team also previously accused the BBC of attempting to use the litigation for political purposes.
Following Thursday’s revised complaint, a Miami judge temporarily halted the order requiring Trump to turn over financial records connected to the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust.
The trust contains the president’s business interests and is managed by his son, Donald Trump Jr.
The BBC has consistently maintained throughout the litigation that Trump’s financial records are relevant to the lawsuit because the president initially alleged that the broadcaster’s reporting had caused financial injury to his businesses and commercial brand.
With Trump no longer pursuing that theory of damages, the broadcaster questioned whether the lawsuit’s requested monetary award remains justified.
In a court filing responding to the revised complaint, the BBC’s attorneys argued that abandoning claims of business-related harm makes the size of the damages request more difficult to support.
“Claiming $10 billion in harm while purporting to disclaim damage to Plaintiff’s business and professional interests renders it all the more implausible that Plaintiff will ever be able to show such damages,” the broadcaster’s lawyers wrote.
The latest filing significantly narrows the focus of the lawsuit by removing allegations tied to Trump’s business empire while leaving intact claims centered on the president’s personal reputation.
At the same time, the revision has altered the ongoing legal dispute over financial discovery, prompting the temporary pause in the order requiring Trump to produce records associated with the trust that holds his business assets.
Even with the changes to the complaint, Trump continues to pursue the same $10 billion damages claim against the BBC, while both sides continue to dispute the scope of the lawsuit and the evidence that may ultimately be required as the case moves forward.
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