Subpoenas for Key Family Members

In a motion filed on Friday, the BBC sought authorization to serve Trump’s two eldest children, Donald Trump Jr and Ivanka Trump, and son-in-law Jared Kushner, with subpoenas for testimony and their records on the events of 6 January 2021.

The BBC, its lawyers wrote in court documents, is entitled to discover Trump’s “intention behind the speech and anything that bears on the impression his audience could have reasonably obtained in listening to the speech”, which includes whether Trump “gave it intentionally or otherwise; the breadth of the audience of the message and impression; and the extent of any resulting injury or harm”.

Trump filed the lawsuit against the BBC in December over scenes in the 2024 BBC documentary Trump, A Second Chance? It argued that the BBC spliced scenes from Trump’s 6 January 2021 speech so that it appeared Trump directly urged his supporters to attack the US Capitol building.

Trump’s children and son-in-law have, “without question”, knowledge of several incidents that day, BBC’s lawyers wrote, including when Trump sought to convince former vice-president Mike Pence to refuse certifying the results of the 2020 election. The BBC also said that Kushner allegedly helped to draft a statement for Trump that would have condemned the use of violence at the Capitol.

Previous Attempts Blocked by Law Enforcement

The British broadcaster had been unable to previously serve Trump’s children and son-in-law with subpoenas because they are protected by the US Secret Service as members of the sitting president’s immediate family, according to the court documents. The BBC had tried previously to serve Ivanka Trump and her husband, Kushner, at their home in Florida but were blocked by law enforcement officials.

Trump’s legal team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Last week, a federal judge granted Trump’s request to block the BBC from accessing financial records after Trump’s lawyers said they would amend the lawsuit to focus specifically on the reputational damages rather than business impacts. Another judge had previously ruled that Trump would have to start handing over records that would have provided details on the hundreds of businesses owned by Trump’s family trust.

Trump recently claimed that the BBC used artificial intelligence to alter his speech, which the network has denied; While the BBC has apologized for the editing, it has maintained that Trump lacks the grounds for a defamation lawsuit.

Broader Legal Context

The BBC is being represented by the law firm Ballard Spahr, which has also defended several publications facing lawsuits from Trump and his allies, including the New York Times and the Associated Press. It is one of several media organizations that Trump has targeted after they published critical reporting of him.

The Wall Street Journal is also facing a $10bn lawsuit for its reporting on Trump’s alleged contributions to Jeffrey Epstein’s birthday book, and several journalists at the New York Times were subpoenaed over an article detailing security concerns with the Air Force One presidential jet.

Court filings show that representatives for the BBC’s legal team attempted in May to serve subpoenas to the president’s son Donald Trump Jr, his daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner. The president is suing the BBC over an episode of Panorama that edited together two different sections of a speech he gave before the 2021 Capitol riots.

The BBC has previously apologised for the edit but denied it was grounds for defamation. The BBC’s lawyers argue in the latest filing that Trump’s family members had “personal knowledge” of his intentions in delivering the speech, making their testimony and documents relevant to the president’s defamation claim.

Drawing on evidence previously gathered by a US congressional committee, the filing says Donald Trump Jr and Ivanka Trump were present when their father revised and delivered his speech, adding that Jared Kushner drafted a proposed statement for him that would have condemned the use of violence.

The filing asks the court to allow the subpoenas to be served by email and certified mail, saying attempts to serve them by hand were unsuccessful. A subpoena is an order for someone to answer questions under oath or provide evidence — Failure to comply results in a penalty.

In one instance, according to the document, a representative for the BBC’s legal team tried to deliver a subpoena for Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner at their home in Florida, but was refused entry at a police checkpoint and was later told by the Secret Service that the agency could not accept the subpoenas.

Similarly, according to the filing, a representative tried to serve a subpoena for Donald Trump Jr at Trump Tower in New York but was told by the concierge that the person who normally took such documents may have been at lunch. During another attempt two days later, the representative was told the “legal department” was not in that day, according to the filing.

President Trump’s legal team has been approached for comment — the BBC press office declined to comment — Last December, Trump sued the BBC and subsidiaries BBC Studios Productions and BBC Studios Distribution over the 2024 Panorama episode. Trump’s lawsuit – filed in Florida – accuses the BBC of “intentionally, maliciously and deceptively doctoring” the speech he gave outside the Capitol on 6 January 2021.

The BBC has apologised for an editing error that gave “the mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action”. However, the BBC has asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that the programme did not meet the legal criteria for defamation and was not made available on its US platforms.

Last month, Trump’s lawyers admitted they had no evidence that the documentary was available in the US on the BBC’s BritBox subscription service, as