Trump cancels deposition in BBC case, lawyers say The president was set to be questioned under oath in his defamation lawsuit over the British broadcaster’s 2020 election documentary.

10/13/2026 3:45 PM EDT|Updated: 10/13/2026 4:44 PM EDT President Donald Trump was set to be deposed Friday in a defamation lawsuit he filed against the British Broadcasting Corporation, but his lawyers recently canceled the session and said he is unavailable through at least mid-December, according to a court filing.

“The President is no longer available for his deposition on October 16 due to other matters of national importance,” Trump’s attorneys told lawyers for the BBC late last month, the network’s attorneys said in motion Tuesday. The BBC is asking a judge to force Trump to set a firm date to submit to questioning in the case.

“Nearly eight months into discovery, after seven depositions of BBC witnesses, and with only two months of discovery remaining, the BBC still has not been able to depose, and does not even have a schedule to depose, the most central figure in this case: Plaintiff himself,” BBC lawyer Charles Tobin wrote. “There is hardly a more crucial and relevant piece of discovery in a defamation lawsuit than the deposition of the Plaintiff.”Tobin said Trump’s attorneys agreed to the Oct. 16 date in July, subject to an agreement to keep the location and other details under wraps for security reasons. Trump’s lawyers advised on Sept. 28 that the Oct. 16 date was no longer feasible and recently proposed rescheduling the deposition for January, according to the new filing.