Trump asks judge to block BBC bid for family testimony in USD 10 billion case

Donald Trump has asked a Miami federal judge to deny the BBC permission to serve subpoenas on three family members by certified mail. The fight sharpens a high-stakes defamation case over a January 6 speech edit as trial preparations continue.

In Short

• The BBC wants permission to serve subpoenas by certified mail
• Process servers earlier failed to reach Ivanka Trump, Kushner and Trump Jr
• Judge Jeffrey Kuntz inherited the Miami case after a recent reassignment

US President Donald Trump has asked a federal judge to reject the BBC's request to help it secure testimony and documents from three of his family members in his USD 10 billion defamation case against the British broadcaster.

In a court filing on Friday, Trump's personal lawyers said the BBC was trying to gain "politically-driven leverage" over him by serving subpoenas on his daughter Ivanka Trump, his son-in-law Jared Kushner and his son Donald Trump Jr. US District Judge Jeffrey Kuntz in Miami did not immediately rule on the dispute.

Kuntz, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, took over the case from another judge less than a week ago. Court filings did not immediately give a reason for the reassignment. The previous judge had set a February trial date.

According to Trump's lawyers, a process server working for the BBC tried in May to serve subpoenas on Ivanka Trump and Kushner at their residence, but Secret Service agents said they were not authorised to accept them. They said the process server also went to Trump Tower in New York several days later in an unsuccessful attempt to serve Donald Trump Jr.

In a court filing last week, the BBC asked for permission to serve the subpoenas by certified mail instead of in person. Trump's lawyers opposed the request, writing, "The relief that the BBC's Motion seeks cannot be segregated from the politically charged discovery campaign that it is based on, and which has already been ruled as improperly overbroad by this Court."

Trump's lawsuit, filed in December, accuses the BBC of deceptively editing parts of a speech he delivered near the White House on January 6, 2021, when a mob of his supporters attacked the Capitol to stop Congress from certifying Democrat Joe Biden's victory over him. The suit says the BBC spliced together separate parts of the speech to intentionally misrepresent what he said. It also alleges that the broadcaster aired its documentary a week before the 2024 presidential election in "a brazen attempt to interfere in and influence" the outcome against him.

The BBC has apologised to Trump for the misleading edit, but it denies defaming him. The dispute before the court now centres on whether the broadcaster can serve subpoenas on Trump's family members by certified mail as the case moves towards trial.

With PTI Inputs

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