Citing 'careful review,' judge hands Trump a major reprieve on day 'sensitive' financials threatened to spill out in discovery

"After careful review," a federal judge granted a trust bearing Donald Trump's name a reprieve from having to hand over "sensitive" financial discovery to the British Broadcasting Corporation in the president's defamation lawsuit.

The BBC had asked U.S. District Judge Roy Altman not to reward Trump's "blatant gamesmanship" with even more delay, claiming the president's "futile" efforts to "fix" his complaint came too late in the day and that far-reaching financial discovery must move forward as soon as Thursday.

The judge responded by slamming the brakes on a magistrate judge's discovery order "until" Trump's motion to amend his complaint is "resolve[d]."

Altman had before him multiple requests, from Trump the individual and from the nonparty entity the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust.

As Law&Crime reported on Tuesday, the Trump Trust asked Altman, a judge the president appointed, to issue a stay on an "emergency" basis of U.S. Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué Lett's Aug. 6 deadline for disclosure of the "first substantial production" of financial documents in discovery.

The Trump Trust, represented by the recently upbraided Alejandro Brito, argued on the eve of the deadline that the BBC's subpoena demands were "improperly broad" attempts to discover "confidential tax, ownership, and financial records for approximately 400 entities."

The Trust's general counsel Alan Garten submitted a declaration the same day, claiming that forcing compliance with the subpoena "would impose a substantial and, in significant part, undue burden and expense" on a nonparty.

Lett previously found that the "information the Trust possesses is relevant and material to any damages analysis" the BBC "may elect to conduct" in its defense against the $10 billion lawsuit, because Trump has alleged that the BBC's Panorama documentary, "Trump: A Second Chance," caused him "extensive economic harms" by editing together "excerpts from different points" of his Jan. 6 speech from the Ellipse out of sequence.

The defendants, on the other hand, urged Altman — in vain — not to buy Trump's claims that the BBC "loses nothing" if the court granted a stay and delay. "[Trump] ignores the fact that it would certainly expand the length of the case and expense involved," an opposition filing said.

Attorney Charles Tobin emphasized that Trump was simultaneously seeking leave to amend his lawsuit, which he called a "transparent effort to avoid the imminent court-ordered deadline to begin producing financial discovery."

"Plaintiff made a deliberate decision in pleading his damages claim when he filed the Complaint eight months ago, made no timely effort to alter his claim, and he has been on notice of the other proposed amendments for months as well, which dooms any effort to meet the requisite good-cause standard. Because Plaintiff has failed to show good cause, his motion should be denied," the filing said.

The BBC said Trump's strategy will ultimately prove "futile" because changing the complaint "cannot fix it," as his "financial records are directly relevant" regardless of the question of "purported reputational damages."

"In fact, 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 BBC added. "Moreover, Plaintiff's failure to even try to justify this amendment other than by saying it was raised at the July 21 hearing only highlights its futility."