After making $16 million from Paramount/CBS to settle one of his lawsuits, Donald Trump thought he could keep suing media companies and get money from corporate leaders who would rather pay up than go through a long and expensive legal battle.
But Trump got too greedy and wanted a $10 billion payoff from his next target, the BBC, a respected British public broadcaster.
Instead of getting that money, he’s now facing a legal mess he created himself.
In December, Trump sued the BBC, saying a documentary on their news show, Panorama, put words in his mouth by editing parts of his January 6th speech that were nearly 50 minutes apart.
He even claimed the network used AI to make up his words — which wasn’t true.
The BBC did splice the footage, which led to an internal investigation, the firing of some top officials, and a written apology.
An apology wasn’t enough for Trump.
He still wanted that $10 billion.
Now his lawsuit against the BBC is falling apart.
A federal judge recently ordered Trump to provide detailed financial records from over 400 companies connected to his family trust — because his own lawsuit says the BBC’s editing hurt his businesses.
You can’t say you suffered huge financial losses and then refuse to show your financial records.
Judge Enjoliqué Lett rejected Trump’s attempt to avoid this: “All of President Trump’s brand, properties and businesses are now in question…Reputational and economic damages are now part of this case.”
It gets worse.
The same judge allowed subpoenas for Trump’s inner circle — Donald Trump Jr., Steve Bannon, and Stephen Miller — to find out what Trump actually intended on January 6th.
And in a third blow within 24 hours, the BBC is asking for records that show exactly how Trump lost his executive privilege claims during Special Prosecutor Jack Smith’s January 6th investigation.
Smith’s team already gathered evidence showing that the Capitol violence was “foreseeable” to Trump, that he “caused it,” and that he “made a conscious choice not to stop it” once it started.
If the BBC gets that evidence, Trump’s entire defamation case will fall apart.
Trump built a career suing media outlets to get them to shut up.
This time, he sued an organization that was willing to fight back — and in doing so, gave prosecutors a clear path to his finances, his inner circle, and his actions on January 6th.
Plus, the public may get another chance to review the evidence that Jack Smith collected against Trump — evidence that judges appointed by the litigious president have made sure he’ll never be held accountable for.
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