Judge rules Trump must hand over financial records sought by BBC in defamation case

The defamation case is currently focused on the procedure known as discovery, where the two sides provide internal or other records that could form evidence.

The BBC’s lawyers said the corporation had produced 87,000 pages of documents, whereas they said Trump’s side had released a “sham production” of only 735 pages, which they said were “news articles” and other material “pulled from the internet”.

Counsel for the BBC, Charles Tobin, said this meant the discovery process had been “entirely one-sided”.

Counsel for Trump, Alejandro Brito, described the BBC’s requests for documents as “oppressive” and “sweeping”.

He also opposed the BBC’s requests for records about Trump’s conversations with aides relating to the Capitol riot, as well as subpoenas issued to federal agencies and former officials.

Trump’s legal team accused the BBC of a “fishing expedition” with subpoenas to “harass” former officials.

Much of the argument from Trump’s lawyers focused on a letter sent from BBC Chairman Samir Shah to the US president in November last year.

In the letter, Shah apologised for the Panorama clip, which he said unintentionally gave the “mistaken impression that President Trump made a direct call for violent action”.

Brito described the letter as a “concession” and “admission” by the BBC.

The BBC has already sought to have the entire case dismissed, arguing the documentary was not broadcast in the US. The court has yet to rule on this.