A federal judge on Thursday ordered Donald Trump to sit for a deposition in his $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the BBC by Dec. 11.
The order from U.S. Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué Lett came as lawyers for the British broadcaster complained that Trump had delayed his appearance. Charles Tobin, attorney for the BBC, said that with two months left in the discovery period, “we still haven’t been able to depose the plaintiff.”
He noted there was an agreed-upon date of Oct. 16, but that Trump had canceled it for a “matter of national importance.” Tobin said the Republican president was in fact campaigning in Georgia that day. “He was participating in party politics and prioritized that over sitting for the deposition,” Tobin said.
I’m not a lawyer, but as I understand it, if he doesn’t stand and the case is dismissed, the BBC will be able to recover their costs from him.
So, it would be safe to assume it would eventually be the USA taxpayer footing the bill.
As is tradition
Don’t worry, I’m sure Trump will pay their attorneys’ fees just as well as he pays the people who do work for him. With summary judgement, a court order, and senile murmuring about a witch trial.
In an academic sense, yes, but more likely is that he stalls and appeals and leverages every excuse his job offers him and every weasel word in the Rules of Civil Procedure, and then drops the suit at the last possible moment before there’s an order, and then appeals any claim for attorney’s fees because it was dropped due to some fig-leaf explanation and not because it was without merit.
Eventually the BBC walks away vindicated in the eyes of anyone paying attention, and maybe with some settlement of their own, but almost certainly not made whole and their speech is at least somewhat chilled because they have to be good custodians of their budget, just as was always intended.
Maybe I’m jaded, but litigation with a ratfuck is ratfuck business. It can be a worthwhile investment if you have something other than money at stake, but it’s inherently wasteful and awful.
President Orange fucks around and finds out