The BBC Gets A Big Win In Trump Defamation Case
On the surface, what looked like a mixed bag ruling contained a big win for the BBC, as the judge ruled that the broadcaster can pursue discovery related to Trump's state of mind on 1/6.
The words that were spoken by Donald Trump during his speech on 1/6 before a mob of his supporters attacked the Capitol are not in dispute. Trump’s lawyers admit that their client said those exact words. Trump doesn’t claim that the video was edited or manipulated.
Trump claims that he was defamed by the BBC because the broadcaster used his own words to create a false impression of the message that Trump was sending.
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The president’s defamation lawsuit against the BBC has been rough sailing. Trump was able to buy some time on turning over his financial records as the judge ruled that the president could render the need for the financial records irrelevant if he narrowed his defamation claim, which is good news for the BBC, as if Trump takes this off-ramp to keep his financial records hidden, he will have to claim less injury in his lawsuit, which could be an example of the BBC beating Trump by incrementially wearing the lawsuit down to nothing.
A fascinating ruling came on Thursday, when Trump tried to argue that the BBC wasn’t entitled to discovery about his mindset on 1/6 and what message he was trying to send with his speech.
Spoiler alert: Trump didn’t win this argument.
