BBC seeks to compel Trump children and Kushner to testify in defamation case
The BBC has asked a US court to allow it to compel testimony and documents from three family members of former President Donald Trump in an ongoing defamation lawsuit. The request, made in a recent court filing, targets Donald Trump Jr, Ivanka Trump, and Jared Kushner.
The lawsuit stems from a speech delivered by Mr Trump that was covered by the broadcaster. The former president sued the BBC for defamation over its reporting. In the new filing, the BBC argues that the family members have "personal knowledge" of his intentions in delivering the speech, making their testimony and documents relevant to the case.
According to the filing, evidence gathered by a US congressional committee shows that Donald Trump Jr and Ivanka Trump were present when their father revised and delivered the speech. It also says that Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump's husband, drafted a proposed statement for Mr Trump that would have condemned the use of violence.
The BBC is seeking to serve subpoenas on the three individuals. A subpoena is a legal order requiring a person to answer questions under oath or provide evidence, and failure to comply can result in penalties. The filing says that attempts to serve the subpoenas by hand were unsuccessful.
In one instance, a representative of the BBC's legal team tried to deliver subpoenas for Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner at their home in Florida. The representative was refused entry at a police checkpoint and was later told by the Secret Service that it could not accept the documents. In another instance, a representative attempted to serve a subpoena for Donald Trump Jr at Trump Tower in New York. The representative was told that the person who normally handled such documents was at lunch. Two days later, the representative was informed that the "legal department" was not in that day.
Because of these difficulties, the filing asks the court to allow the subpoenas to be served by email and certified mail. The BBC's lawyers say that the family members' testimony is directly relevant to the former president's defamation claim. The request is part of the pre-trial discovery process, during which both sides gather evidence before a trial.
The court will now decide whether to grant the BBC's request to serve the subpoenas by alternative means. Such requests are often made when personal service has proved difficult. The BBC's filing argues that its multiple attempts demonstrate that it made a genuine effort to serve the subpoenas personally before seeking the court's permission to use email and certified mail.
In response, a spokesman for Mr Trump's legal team told the BBC that the broadcaster had "intentionally defamed" the president and was "seeking to harass him, his family, and supporters by abusing the deposition process." The statement added that the BBC was "simply trying to distract away from their own obvious liability."
The BBC press office declined to comment on the filing. Mr Trump's legal team has been approached for comment but had not responded at the time of writing. The case continues in a US court.
