AP Photo/Patrick Semansky
The BBC is seeking to subpoena three members of President Donald Trump’s family as it fights his $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the British broadcaster over its editing of his Jan. 6 speech in a documentary.
Attorneys for the BBC are pursuing testimony and documents from Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, Politico reported, arguing in court filings that all three “without question have personal knowledge” of the president’s actions and intentions surrounding his Jan. 6, 2021, address.
Trump sued the BBC over a 2024 Panorama documentary broadcast in the U.K. that edited together separate portions of his speech before the riot at the U.S. Capitol building. The president alleges the edit falsely made it appear that he was endorsing violence.
The BBC apologized for the way the speech was edited but disputes that the incident provides valid grounds for Trump’s defamation claim.
Citing evidence gathered by the House Jan. 6 Committee, attorneys for the broadcaster argue that Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump were present while their father revised the speech and were present when he delivered it. Kushner, meanwhile, allegedly drafted a proposed statement for Trump condemning the violence at the Capitol.
Court filings show an effort to serve Ivanka Trump and Kushner at their Miami home in May was blocked by police.
The outlet reports that Secret Service attorney Troy Epstein subsequently told the broadcaster’s lawyers that the agency was “not authorized to accept service of these subpoenas for these individuals” or offer information on how to “best facilitate or effectuate service of these subpoenas.”
A separate effort to serve Trump Jr. at the Trump Organization’s offices in Trump Tower in New York was also unsuccessful.
In a motion filed Friday in federal court in Miami, BBC attorneys said Trump’s lawyers had also declined to accept the subpoenas. They are now asking a judge to permit service by mail or rule that delivering them through the president’s attorneys is sufficient.
The post BBC Targets Trump Family With Subpoenas in $10B Legal Fight Over Jan 6 Doc first appeared on Mediaite.
