The BBC has failed to subpoena Donald Trump’s family in the President’s defamation case against the broadcaster.
The President filed a $10billion lawsuit against the broadcaster over the editing of his January 6 speech in a Panorama documentary.
While the BBC has since issued a grovelling apology for an “error of judgement”, it has continued its efforts to have the case thrown out.
It has now attempted to subpoena Mr Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr, his daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner to force them to give evidence.
The broadcaster claims all three family members have “personal knowledge and likely have possession, custody, or control of records relevant to multiple elements of Plaintiff’s claims against the BBC”, according to court documents filed in the US District Court in Florida on Friday.
But it has been unsuccessful in its efforts – this is because all three are protected by the US Secret Service as members of the President’s immediate family, the BBC said.
It is now asking for any alternative way to serve the documents, having “endeavoured to resolve the issue” without appealing to the courts.
The BBC asked Mr Trump to accept the documents on behalf of his family members, but he allegedly “refused” to do so.
In November, the BBC issued a grovelling apology for the ‘error of judgement’ | BBC
Requests to direct the Secret Service to accept the documents were also refused, the BBC claimed.
It attempted to serve Mr Trump Jr at Trump Tower in New York but was “stopped” by security at the building.
Another attempt to serve the documents, just two days later, was blocked because the BBC’s representative was told the “legal department” was not in that day, according to the court filing.
The BBC also attempted to serve Mr Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, and her husband, Mr Kushner, at their home in Florida but were blocked by law enforcement.
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Attempts were made to serve Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump at their home in Florida, but were blocked by law enforcement
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The broadcaster admitted its attempts to serve Mr Trump’s family were “unusual, perhaps even novel”, but said the solution was “straightforward”.
It has asked for the Court’s help to serve the subpoenas through methods including email, mail and notice to the witnesses’ lawyers.
In the US, subpoenas must be delivered in-person, hand-to-hand, unless an exception from the court is granted.
Mr Trump said the Panorama episode, broadcast before his 2024 presidential election victory, caused both reputational and financial injury.
Attempts to serve Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr have been blocked by law enforcement
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In the documentary, separate moments of the President’s speech were spliced together to make it seem as if he directly called for violence in the Capitol.
He has since dropped part of the lawsuit against the BBC Studios Distribution Limited and BBC Studios Productions Limited – the corporation’s commercial and production arms.
The criticism around the documentary led to Tim Davie and Deborah Turness resigning as BBC director-general and CEO of BBC News, respectively.
The BBC has maintained its claims the President lacks the grounds for a defamation lawsuit and is being represented by Ballard Spahr, who have defended a number of publications facing lawsuits from Mr Trump – namely The New York Times and the Associated Press.
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