Federal judge allows Trump’s $10bn defamation lawsuit against BBC to proceed

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Trump-appointed judge Jeffrey T Kuntz partially denies British broadcaster’s motion to dismiss over editFederal judge Jeffrey T Kuntz ruled on Tuesday that Donald Trump’s lawsuit…

Trump-appointed judge Jeffrey T Kuntz partially denies British broadcaster’s motion to dismiss over edit

Federal judge Jeffrey T Kuntz ruled on Tuesday that Donald Trump’s lawsuit against the BBC can proceed, denying in part the British broadcaster’s motion to dismiss the case. The president’s $10bn defamation lawsuit stems from the BBC’s splicing together of disparate comments he made before the 6 January US Capitol insurrection, as rendered in a Panorama documentary called Trump: A Second Chance.

The judge noted the significance of the documentary’s editing decision, which spliced together comments made by Trump that were nearly 55 minutes apart, something the BBC has apologized for.

“On its face, the editing may independently establish the plausibility of actual malice,” he wrote. “BBC tries to frame this editing as ordinary editing done to condense a seventy-minute-long speech into twelve seconds. But the Court is not persuaded.”

The judge continued: “Editing is often required. However, given the time disparity between the two statements, the distance itself tends toward a plausible inference that BBC knew or should have known that the segment they were creating would not and could not have been a truthful statement. This was not trimming around the edges but creating something different than what was stated in the speech.”

The judge noted past errors in the broadcaster’s coverage and wrote that “such examples can be said to be probative of BBC’s state of mind as it pertains to recklessness in light of BBC’s non-action toward false statements about Trump. Thus, Trump paints a picture that demonstrates the BBC has a record of allowing the publication of false statements in their portrayal of Trump.”

The judge also wrote that “Trump’s allegations regarding BBC’s departure from journalistic standards are more than enough to plausibly alleged more than mere negligence”.

The BBC released a statement: “We are surprised by this decision but respect the Court’s authority and…

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