- See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred Source
Donald Trump has been ordered to hand over the financial records of nearly 400 companies controlled by his eldest son, a humiliating blow in the President's $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the BBC.
The President lost his fight to shield the Donald J Trump Revocable Trust, the vehicle that holds his fortune and is run by Donald Trump Jr, after a three-hour hearing in Miami on Tuesday.
US Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué Lett ruled that Trump's own complaint had dragged his empire into open court.
'All of President Trump's brand, properties and businesses are impugned or said to have been impugned. Reputational, economic damages, all of that is now at issue in this case,' she said, according to Politico.
Lett also refused to quash the dozens of subpoenas the BBC has aimed at Trump's family and closest advisers including Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner, Steve Bannon, Michael Flynn, Stephen Miller and Don Jr.
The BBC wants every message the six exchanged about the 'Stop the Steal' rally, plus everything they handed to federal investigators probing the riot. The broadcaster says it is seeking to establish Trump's state of mind on the day.
The defamation case spins on a 12-second edit of his January 6, 2021 address, spliced together for a Panorama film broadcast weeks out from the 2024 election.
Viewers heard him say: 'We're going to walk down to the Capitol ... and I'll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell.' The fight lines came more than 50 minutes later which Trump says made it look like he incited the mob.
President Donald Trump speaks at the 'Stop The Steal' Rally on January 06, 2021 in Washington, DC
Donald Trump Jr., left, and wife Bettina Anderson arrive at Donald J. Trump International Airport on July 9 in West Palm Beach, Florida
The President's supporters including the 'QAnon Shaman' (center) inside the Capitol on January 6, 2021
BBC Director-General Tim Davie quit in the fallout and Chairman Samir Shah wrote to Trump last November admitting it 'gave the mistaken impression that you had made a direct call for violent action.'
The Trump trust is tied to nearly 400 entities and Trump is its sole beneficiary, BBC filings state. His lawyers had dismissed the demand as a fishing expedition.
The BBC says the records will show the President's wealth has climbed by more than $1 billion in the past year, contradicting his claim that the documentary cost him money, Bloomberg reported.
Trump's legal team tried to defuse the ruling by retreating, dropping the economic damage claims and pursuing only harm to his reputation.
Attorney Alejandro Brito said the President had shifted position since filing, describing the case as having 'evolved'. 'The damages are limited in a way that is different from when the case was originally filed,' Brito told the judge.
He added: 'Even if there has been a harm to the brand, we are not pursuing that as part of our damages ... It's a far more narrow scope of what this case is about.'
Lett said she had no power to strike the business claims herself.
BBC lawyer Chuck Tobin told her the distinction was meaningless. 'He ran for President of the United States on a platform of the art of the deal,' Tobin said. 'You cannot separate the man and his reputation from his operation of his businesses.'
Pro-Trump supporters storm the U.S. Capitol following a rally with President Donald Trump on January 6, 2021
Alex Jones, the founder of right-wing media group Infowars, addresses a crowd of pro-Trump protesters after they storm the grounds of the Capitol Building on January 6, 2021
The broadcaster is also pushing to put Trump under oath. 'They have ignored our request to schedule the President's deposition,' Tobin said. 'They're dragging their feet on giving me a date.'
Trump can appeal to District Judge Roy Altman, whom he appointed. The BBC is separately fighting to have the case thrown out, arguing a Florida court has no jurisdiction over a TV show that never aired in the US.
A spokesman for the President's legal team said: 'The formerly respected and now disgraced BBC defamed President Trump by intentionally, maliciously, and deceptively doctoring his speech in a brazen attempt to interfere in the 2024 presidential election.'