President Donald Trump gestures while speaking with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Monday, April 6, 2026, in Washington (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson).
On the same morning that opposing counsel complained in another Florida courtroom about Donald Trump's approach to discovery in a defamation lawsuit he filed, the president's lawyers are slamming the British Broadcasting Corporation's defense for "excessive and impermissibly broad" attempts to put the "events" of Jan. 6 on trial.
The response from attorney Alejandro Brito comes weeks after he expressed regret to U.S. District Judge Roy Altman, a Trump appointee, for the "oversight" of blowing past a deadline to oppose the BBC's motion to dismiss.
After moving to throw out the "entire" case, arguing that Trump couldn't establish jurisdiction and failed to state a claim, the BBC defendants anticipated that extensive Jan. 6-related discovery would show Trump can't "prove that he did not foment or incite the January 6 Capitol riot."
"[H]e cannot now prevent Defendants from seeking records that would shed light on his true knowledge, intent, and state of mind in delivering his speech at the Ellipse," the defendants argued.
Trump filed the $10 billion lawsuit over "Trump: A Second Chance," a Panorama documentary, after the BBC admitted it "gave the mistaken impression that [he] had made a direct call for violent action" on Jan. 6 by editing together "excerpts from different points" of Trump's speech from the Ellipse out of sequence.
As part of its defense, however, the BBC issued 47 subpoenas of third parties, seeking "[a]ll Documents and Communications Concerning the attack on the U.S. Capitol following the 'Stop the Steal' rally on January 6, 2021" — the "same records" former special counsel Jack Smith used against Trump in his dismissed Jan. 6 conspiracy prosecution.
A hearing on these issues was pushed back to July 21. Ahead of that, Trump has lodged his complaints about the BBC's "impermissibly broad" discovery aims and how it will add to the expense of his litigation against the broadcaster.
"Defendants have engaged in excessive and impermissibly broad discovery efforts in such a manner that it distracts from the core issues in dispute in this case," the filing said, accusing the BBC of "attempting to distort the allegations in the Complaint in order to unnecessarily expand the scope of discovery into a sweeping inquiry into January 6th, post-election challenges, government investigations, congressional productions, call logs, calendars, and unrelated litigation, thereby needlessly increasing the cost of litigation."
Trump argued that the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure are meant to prevent defendants from improperly "us[ing] this action as a vehicle to conduct a trial as to the events that occurred on January 6th."
"As reflected by Plaintiff's precise allegations in the Complaint, it is Defendants' actions in splicing and distorting President Trump's January 6, 2021, speech that is at issue in this case," the reply went on.
Earlier Tuesday, a Florida judge heard from frustrated counsel for Pulitzer Prize board members who face a defamation lawsuit for standing by 2018 awards to The New York Times and The Washington Post for their Russia probe reporting.
After the defendants' attorney complained that Trump hasn't "produce[d] a single written response or document" in discovery and still had the audacity to seek another lengthy extension, the judge reminded the president that he is the one who filed the case and insisted on it moving forward while in office, so he "has to follow the rules like the rest of us."
"There's no exemption just because he's a president, even though obviously got important duties to do," Senior 19th Judicial Circuit Judge Robert Pegg summed up.
Just one week ago, Trump's attorneys in New York announced they had reached a settlement in a long-running lawsuit against his niece, Mary Trump.
The New York Supreme Court's Appellate Division, First Department, in May handed down a major reversal on discovery, finding the daughter of Fred Trump Jr. was entitled as a matter of law to documents she said could help her prove she was fraudulently induced into a 2001 Trump family settlement after Fred Trump Sr.'s death.
Another federal judge is slated to hold a discovery conference as soon as Tuesday, this one in the American Bar Association's lawsuit against the Executive Office of the President, challenging efforts to "muzzle" attorneys through intimidation.