Aug 9, 2026
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Add us on GoogleOn Thursday, President Donald Trump temporarily avoided having to give the British Broadcasting Company access to his financial records as part of his $10 billion defamation lawsuit.
Judge Roy K. Altman, who Trump appointed in 2019, approved an emergency stay filed by Trump’s attorneys on Wednesday, just a day before the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust would’ve been forced to hand the BBC tax, ownership, and financial records for approximately 400 entities.
Why is the BBC trying to obtain Trump’s financial statement?
On Dec. 15, 2025, Trump filed a lawsuit against the BBC over a 2024 episode of documentary news program “Panorama” which included portions of Trump’s speech on Jan. 6, 2021, the day of the Capitol insurrection. Trump’s lawsuit alleges that clips of his speech were edited together to show him egging his supporters to storm the Capitol and omitted parts where he encouraged peaceful demonstration.
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Trump’s lawsuit seeks $5 billion in damages for defamation and $5 billion for unfair trade practices, claiming the edit hurt his “brand, properties and businesses.” U.S. Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué Lett ruled that because Trump alleges that the BBC hurt his businesses, it’s fair for the BBC to demand information about his businesses, ordering his trust to turn over relevant information.
“All of President Trump’s brand, properties and businesses are impugned or said to have been impugned. Reputational, economic damages, all of that is now at issue in this case,” Lett said during the hearing.
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Trump’s lawyers have requested to amend their complaint to focus on Trump’s reputation and move away from the alleged damage to his businesses, arguing that doing so would remove the need to disclose his finances. It’s this request that Judge Altman is currently considering, pausing the release of Trump’s financial documents until a decision is made.
If Altman rules against Trump, the BBC may very well obtain Trump’s financial records, but a protective order may prevent those documents from being publicized. Seth Stern, advocacy director at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, says that Trump could also simply drop the lawsuit to prevent his financial details from being released to the public.
“Trump has a history of filing lawsuits and then just dismissing them before they get to discovery,” Stern told the Associated Press. “So there’s a chance he’ll do that and I’m sure it’ll give him a day or an hour of embarrassing headlines. But as we’ve seen countless times with Trump’s administration ... no one headline seems to stick for very long, and I suspect that one would be no different.”
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Trump’s legal war against news organizations
The defamation lawsuit against the BBC is one of several ongoing Trump lawsuits against news organizations. Trump is currently suing the Dow Jones for $15 billion over their reporting of a birthday letter to Jeffrey Epstein allegedly signed by Trump.
He is also suing The New York Times and Penguin Random House for $15 billion over the publication of New York Times reporters Susanne Craig and Russ Buettner’s book “Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father’s Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success” and the publication’s coverage of Trump during the 2024 campaign.
Other news organizations, like CBS News and ABC News, have settled lawsuits from Trump for $16 million and $15 million, respectively.
The BBC apologized for the editing mistake on Panorama in November 2025, but has expressed its intent to see the defamation case through. “As we have made clear previously, we will be defending this case,” a BBC spokesman said in a statement in February. “We are not going to make further comment on ongoing legal proceedings.”
A jury trial is scheduled for Feb. 15, 2027.
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Paul Kim is a Brooklyn-based freelance writer and editor. He has spent much of his career in service journalism, helping readers make smart decisions, whether they’re looking for the best pet insurance or a great place to grab lunch.
