A judge in the United States has allowed President Donald Trump's US$10 billion defamation lawsuit against the BBC to proceed, rejecting part of the broadcaster's move to have the case dismissed.

Judge Jeffrey Kuntz of the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida ruled on Tuesday, November 10 that the defamation claim can continue.

He threw out a second claim brought under Florida's Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, finding the documentary at the centre of the case was not commercial speech. The BBC must answer the defamation claim by December 1.

The judge made no ruling on the merits of the case: “Whether President Trump can prove these claims and establish he sustained damages at summary judgment or trial is left for another day,” he wrote.

He did find that the complaint plausibly alleged actual malice and reputational harm: “This was not trimming around the edges but creating something different than what was stated in the speech.”

Trump called the ruling a “huge victory” in a Tuesday post on Truth Social.

A BBC spokesperson said in a statement: “We are surprised by this decision but respect the Court's authority and note the case will now proceed to the next stage. We remain confident in our position and will continue to respond through the proper legal process.”

The lawsuit, filed in Florida last year, accuses the BBC of “intentionally, maliciously and deceptively doctoring” a speech Trump gave outside the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

A Panorama documentary, Trump: A Second Chance, aired on October 28, 2024, a week before the US election, stitching two remarks he had delivered nearly 55 minutes apart into a 12-second clip that appeared to show him urging supporters to “fight like hell”.

The BBC apologised, saying the edit gave “the mistaken impression that Trump made a direct call for violent action”. The row fed a wider debate about editing and deepfakes and led to the resignation of BBC Director-General Tim Davie in November 2025.

The broadcaster had sought dismissal, arguing the programme did not satisfy the legal test for defamation and never aired in the United States.

Separately, a Florida magistrate judge ruled in late October that Trump must sit for a deposition by December 11 or risk sanctions, after he cancelled an earlier session citing “matters of national importance”.