Main: President Donald Trump tosses the pen he used to sign an executive order at a campaign rally at the Pinnacle Bank Expo Center, Monday, Oct. 5, 2026, in Grand Island, Neb. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon). Right inset: Former special counsel Jack Smith testifies during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing titled "Oversight of Jack Smith's Abuse of Authority and the Targeting of Republicans and Related Matters," in Hart Senate Office Building on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP Images).
In back-and-forth letter correspondence with attorneys for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the DOJ repeatedly took the position that forcing Jack Smith's deposition in President Donald Trump's Jan. 6 defamation lawsuit would "impose an undue burden" on the "former Special Counsel" and the government.
As court watchers wait to learn whether the president will himself sit for a deposition or risk the end of the case, the BBC says Trump must "prove that he did not foment the January 6 Capitol riot."
Other than Trump, who the defendant noted is "the most central figure in this case," it is "difficult to imagine a more authoritative source on these issues" than Smith, one letter to the DOJ said Wednesday.
"BBC will seek testimony regarding the evidence that Mr. Smith obtained over the course of his investigation, which according to him 'established that the violence [on January 6] was foreseeable to Mr. Trump, that he caused it, that it was beneficial to his plan to interfere with the certification, and that when it occurred, he made a conscious choice not to stop it and instead to leverage it for more delay,'" the BBC said of Smith's deposition.
The president's personal attorneys earlier opposed Smith's deposition as "irrelevant," and now the DOJ has "decline[d] to authorize the requested testimony."
"Upon consideration of your request, the Department rejects it. Specifically, your request is denied because the testimony you seek is subject to the grand-jury-secrecy privilege, classified information privilege, law enforcement privilege, and executive privilege," wrote DOJ attorney Pardis Gheibi. "To the extent that the testimony you seek encompasses non-privileged information, Mr. Smith's extensive public testimonies and report are adequate substitutes. Additionally, your request is denied because the deposition of Mr. Smith—a former high-ranking government official—would impose an undue burden on Mr. Smith and the Department.
"In these circumstances, any deposition of the former Special Counsel would be improper under apex principles and impose undue burdens on him as well as on the Department, which would have to take steps to protect Government information during the deposition," the DOJ responded, stating on Monday that it "declines to authorize the requested testimony."
The BBC has said it would be a "fundamental injustice" if it cannot "robustly defend itself" against the $10 billion lawsuit.
Gheibi clerked for then-Judge Amy Coney Barrett, now a sitting Supreme Court justice, an op-ed from 2020 shows.