President Trump must provide detailed information about his finances to BBC lawyers in his $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the venerable BBC, a federal magistrate judge in Miami ruled Tuesday.
The president had accused Bibb of defaming him through deceptive editing of his Ellipse speech on January 6, 2021, before the Capitol riot that delayed the official count of Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory, as part of a “Panorama” broadcast that aired days before the 2024 election.
The initial complaint, which was filed in December, alleged that “the harm to President Trump’s business and personal reputation…and their efforts to falsely, maliciously, and defamatoryly portray President Trump as a violent insurrectionist, continues to the present, causing enormous economic harm to the value of his brand and…direct harm to his professional and employment interests, including, but not limited to, the value of his brand, properties, and businesses.”
On Tuesday, US District Judge Ingolik Litt ruled that Trump must support the claims, saying: “All of President Trump’s trademarks, properties, and companies have been or are said to have been challenged. The economic and reputational damages are all now at issue in this case,” according to Politico.
Trump’s lawyer, Al Brito, tried to argue that his client is now only seeking compensation for damage to his reputation and not the more than 400 companies under the umbrella of the Trump Organization.
Brito did not immediately say whether he would appeal Litt’s ruling to case judge Roy Altman, a Trump appointee.