Judge orders Trump to disclose financial records in $10bn BBC defamation lawsuit

The ruling

On Tuesday, US magistrate judge Enjoliqué Lett ordered Donald Trump to hand over financial records from the Donald J Trump Revocable Trust, which holds more than 400 companies. The ruling came during the first hearing in the $10bn defamation lawsuit Trump filed against the BBC. Lett said reputational and economic damages are both at issue, rejecting Trump's attempt to limit the case to reputational harm alone.

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.

Background of the lawsuit

Trump sued the BBC late last year over a 2024 Panorama documentary, "Trump, A Second Chance," which spliced together lines from his January 6, 2021 speech to make it appear he directly called for violence. The BBC apologized in a letter from Chairman Samir Shah last November, calling the edit unintentional. The corporation has argued the documentary was not broadcast in the US and that the defamation claim lacks merit, and has moved to dismiss the case. That motion remains pending.

Discovery battle

The BBC's lawyer Charles Tobin told the court that the corporation had produced 87,000 pages of documents, while Trump's side had released only 735 pages, which Tobin called a "sham production" of news articles pulled from the internet. Tobin said the discovery process had been "entirely one-sided." The judge also allowed the BBC to subpoena Trump family members and advisers, including Donald Trump Jr, Steve Bannon and Stephen Miller, for evidence about Trump's intentions on January 6. Trump's lawyer Alejandro Brito called the subpoenas a "fishing expedition" meant to "harass" former officials. Lett gave a split decision on a separate BBC request for documents directly related to the Capitol riot.

Trump's attempt to narrow the case

Brito said the president's approach had "evolved" and that he is now pursuing only reputational damage, not economic harm to his businesses. He argued that the financial records are therefore unnecessary. Tobin countered that Trump's reputation and business are inseparable, noting that Trump ran for president on a platform of deal-making. The judge's ruling means the financial disclosures will proceed unless Trump appeals.

He ran for president of the United States on a platform of the art of the deal. You cannot separate the man and his reputation from his operation of his businesses.

What comes next

Trump can appeal the ruling to US District Judge Roy Altman, a Trump appointee. Brito declined to comment on whether an appeal will be filed. The broader defamation case remains in its early stages, with the BBC's motion to dismiss still pending. The discovery process, now opened to Trump's finances, could provide a rare look into the former president's business empire.