Somebody has made a mess, and it’s not on the Beeb’s side. Derp. It’s on Trump’s side. It’s a doozy. He figured the BBC would roll over and play dead for him. He thought it would be some easy money. He’s wrong. And this is a great mistake on Trump’s side. With respect for Raw Story:
President Donald Trump’s lawyers made a big mistake in the president’s $10 billion lawsuit against the British Broadcasting Corporation, one so big that two legal experts argued on Sunday that it could be evidence of malpractice. Trump initially sued the BBC in Florida in December 2025, claiming the network defamed him by mischaracterizing the speech Trump made ahead of the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot. During the speech, Trump told his supporters they needed to “fight like hell, and if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore,” according to a transcript published by NPR.
Yep, we all remember that damn speech. It’s been everywhere and still resurfaces when the people he pardoned end up back in jail. It’s been ringing through our dreams ever since the day of the insurrection, and that, *no one* can forget. That shows up in our dreams, too. It’s very sneaky about it. This is not something we want to revisit. That was a horrible day that helped cement Trump in our history. That blood is never going to wash from his hands. Never. But back on topic, and I beg forgiveness for the detour.
In March, lawyers for the BBC filed a motion to dismiss the case, arguing that the court does not have jurisdiction to hear it because the footage was not broadcast in Florida — or anywhere in America — and that Trump suffered no reputational damages from the network’s story because he went on to win the 2024 election.
Ooooo, ta, busted! At a guess, he would have to try to file over there. The UK most emphatically does NOT like Trump, not one tiny iota. He’d have one helluva time finding a lawyer, and he doesn’t know the laws and the courts as he does over here. That actually just became an entertaining thought! He can’t pull his shenanigans over there as he does here, and he can’t go to SCOTUS. Hmmmm.
U.S. District Judge Roy Altman gave Trump’s lawyers a June 5 deadline to respond to the BBC’s claims, which they missed, Reuters reported. Attorneys Brian Kabateck and Shant Karnikian argued on a new episode of their podcast, “Civil Action,” that the missed deadline is a “big problem” for Trump’s case. “So, Trump files this lawsuit, probably thinks that the BBC’s going to bend the knee and kiss the ring and all that kind of stuff and settle with him and pay some money to some phony charity. But instead they do discovery, and the problem with that is, be careful what you ask for,” Kabateck said. Kabateck characterized the response Trump’s lawyers offered as essentially telling the judge, “The president is a very busy man, so he can’t respond to this.” Karnikian argued that the response was absurd on its face. “When you don’t respond to that, that’s a very big problem,” he said. “If we did that on behalf of one of our clients … that’s like malpractice to miss a deadline like that. It’s like inexcusable.”
Yup. They can’t play those games with this judge, and they definitely couldn’t play them across the pond. It should be interesting to see how this comes out. Trump’s lawyers are playing reindeer games. They’re going to get burned. Add in the whole point that the BBC’s footage was never played over here, and that should (hopefully) tank the lawsuit. It’s almost a week since that June 10th deadline. It seems that nothing has happened. Please, Your Honor, figuratively nail them to the wall.
See you soon!
Friends, I know everybody begs you for money. I promise you that, of all the outlets bugging you for spare change, we are the smallest and the hardest-working. We’re a bunch of old, disabled people, except one writer in his mid-50s. But the rest of us are in our sixties and seventies, and this is a labor of love. All we’re asking for is the ability to continue our quest to tell the truth about Trump and help ensure democracy survives. If you can help, please do. Thank you. Ursula
