President Donald Trump's attorney filed an emergency motion seeking to prevent the BBC from obtaining financial records related to Trump's trust.
"The BBC's improperly broad subpoena demands the Trust's confidential tax, ownership, and financial records for approximately 400 entities," Trump's attorney Alejandro Brito mentioned in the legal filing on Wednesday.
Brito argued that if the Trust turns over the records to the BBC, the disclosure could not be "undone", making any pending objections ineffective because the BBC would have already accessed the documents.
Brito argued that the trust would suffer "irreversible injury" if the records were disclosed, while the BBC would face only a brief delay. He said the BBC had not justified its need for a non-party's complete financial records within 10 days or shown how a short stay would affect its defense.
Trump-BBC Legal Fight Escalates
In December, Trump sued the BBC for up to $10 billion, alleging the broadcaster defamed him by deceptively editing his Jan. 6, 2021, speech in a Panorama documentary to falsely suggest he directly incited the U.S. Capitol violence. The lawsuit claims the BBC intentionally combined two speech segments delivered nearly 55 minutes apart to misrepresent his remarks.
The BBC apologized for editing the documentary but rejected Trump's demand for damages and sought dismissal of the lawsuit, arguing U.S. courts lack jurisdiction over the broadcaster. Trump has continued pursuing the case, asking a federal judge to let him amend the lawsuit to protect his financial records from BBC review.
Last month, a federal judge ordered Trump to disclose financial records in his defamation lawsuit, ruling that his claims of reputational and economic harm put his businesses at issue. The decision allows the BBC to examine Trump's crypto and stock profits as well as more than 400 companies held in the Trump family trust, despite the President's lawyers arguing the case now centers only on personal reputational damage.