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On the 10th, a federal judge in the US state of Florida allowed the continuation of the trial of President Donald Trump's defamation lawsuit against the BBC. The BBC had asked for the case to be dismissed.
Trump sued the BBC in Florida in December over the BBC's program "Panorama," which edited and spliced together two parts of a speech he gave before the riot at the US Capitol in January 2021. It alleges that the speech was "intentionally, maliciously, and deceptively altered."
Federal Judge Jeffrey Kuntz has now ruled that there is sufficient evidence to continue hearing Trump's defamation claims. However, it did not indicate any judgment regarding the content.
"Whether President Trump can substantiate these claims and show that he has suffered damages for summary judgment or at trial will be determined at another time," the judge said.
However, the judge dismissed a second claim brought by Mr. Trump based on a state law prohibiting unfair business practices, saying that the documentary program did not constitute commercial speech.
Trump called the judge's decision a "huge victory" on his social media platform Truth Social on the 10th.
A BBC spokesperson said: ``We are surprised by this decision, but respect the court's powers. We understand this case will move to the next stage.'' "We remain confident in our position and will continue to respond through the appropriate legal process."
The BBC has apologized, admitting that Panorama's editing of the speech gave the "wrong impression" that he was "directly calling for violent action".
Meanwhile, the BBC is asking the court to dismiss the suit, saying the program did not meet the legal requirements for defamation and was not distributed on American platforms.
Trump's campaign initially claimed that the documentary was available in the United States through the BBC's BritBox pay service, the BBC website, BBC Select, and American broadcasters. But this year, he admitted there was no evidence of that.
Mr Trump later agreed to exclude BBC Studios, the BBC's commercial arm, from the lawsuit. The BBC insisted that it had "no involvement in the production or production of the documentary".
Last month, Trump canceled a deposition in the case, citing "a matter of national importance." The judge then ordered him to answer questions under oath by Dec. 11.
A lawyer representing the BBC told the court that Trump was campaigning in Georgia on the day his deposition was scheduled and that he had "prioritised" that to answering questions as part of the proceedings.
(English article Judge allows Trump's $10bn defamation case against BBC to proceed)
