BBC seeks to subpoena Trump children and son-in-law over defamation lawsuit

The BBC is trying to subpoena Donald Trump’s children as it builds its defense against the president’s defamation lawsuit centered on a documentary on the January 6 insurrection.In a motion filed on Friday, the BBC sought authorization to serve Trump’s two eldest children, Donald Trump Jr and Ivanka Trump, and son-in-law Jared Kushner, with subpoenas for testimony and their records on the events of 6 January 2021.The BBC, its lawyers wrote in court documents, is entitled to discover Trump’s “intention behind the speech and anything that bears on the impression his audience could have reasonably obtained in listening to the speech”, which includes whether Trump “gave it intentionally or otherwise; the breadth of the audience of the message and impression; and the extent of any resulting injury or harm”.Trump filed the lawsuit against the BBC in December over scenes in the 2024 BBC documentary Trump, A Second Chance?. It argued that the BBC spliced scenes from Trump’s 6 January 2021 speech so that it appeared Trump directly urged his supporters to attack the US Capitol building.Trump’s children and son-in-law have, “without question”, knowledge of several incidents that day, BBC’s lawyers wrote, , including when Trump sought to convince former vice-president Mike Pence to refuse certifying the results of the 2020 election. The BBC also said that Kushner allegedly helped to draft a statement for Trump that would have condemned the use of violence at the Capitol.The British broadcaster had been unable to previously serve Trump’s children and son-in-law with subpoenas because they are protected by the US Secret Service as members of the sitting president’s immediate family, according to the court documents. The BBC had tried previously to serve Ivanka Trump and her husband, Kushner, at their home in Florida but were blocked by law enforcement officials.Trump’s legal team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Last week, a federal judge granted Trump’s request to block the BBC from accessing financial records after Trump’s lawyers said they would amend the lawsuit to focus specifically on the reputational damages rather than business impacts. Another judge had previously ruled that Trump would have to start handing over records that would have provided details on the hundreds of businesses owned by Trump’s family trust.Trump recently claimed that the BBC used Artificial Intelligence to alter his speech, which the network has denied. While the BBC has apologized for the editing, it has maintained that Trump lacks the grounds for a defamation lawsuit.The BBC is being represented by the law firm Ballard Spahr, which has also defended several publications facing lawsuits from Trump and his allies, including the New York Times and the Associated Press. It is one of several media organizations that Trump has targeted after they published critical reporting of him. The Wall Street Journal is also facing a $10bn lawsuit for its reporting on Trump’s alleged contributions to Jeffrey Epstein’s birthday book, and several journalists at the New York Times were subpoenaed over an article detailing security concerns with the Air Force One presidential jet.