BBC Seeks to Subpoena Trump's Children and Kushner in $10 Billion Defamation Case
The BBC has asked a US federal judge for permission to subpoena Donald Trump Jr, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner as it defends itself against a $10 billion defamation lawsuit brought by President Donald Trump.
In court filings made on 14 August 2026, the BBC argues that all three have personal knowledge of President Trump's intentions when he delivered a speech on 6 January 2021, just before the riot at the US Capitol. The broadcaster says Donald Trump Jr and Ivanka Trump were present when Trump revised and gave the speech, and that Kushner drafted a proposed statement condemning the use of violence (BBC News; Politico).
President Trump filed the lawsuit in late 2025, alleging that the BBC used misleading editing in a documentary — a Panorama programme — to splice together disparate parts of his speech and give the false impression that he had directly called for violent action. The BBC has acknowledged an editing error and apologised for it, but says it will defend the case (The Independent; BBC News).
Getting the subpoenas delivered has been its own obstacle. A BBC legal representative who tried to serve papers on Ivanka Trump and Kushner at their Florida home was refused entry at a police checkpoint, and the Secret Service told the representative it could not accept the subpoenas, according to Forbes. A separate attempt to serve Donald Trump Jr at Trump Tower in New York was rebuffed by a concierge (Deadline).
Because of those failed attempts, the BBC is now asking the court to let it serve the subpoenas by email and certified mail instead (Deadline).
The case has already produced several procedural fights. In July 2026, a US judge ruled that President Trump must hand over financial records to the BBC as part of the lawsuit. Trump's legal team called the request a "fishing expedition" and accused the broadcaster of using subpoenas to "harass" former officials (BBC News). Weeks later, a judge granted Trump's request to delay handing over those records (BBC News). Trump also removed BBC Studios — the broadcaster's commercial arm — from the suit in July 2026 (BBC News).
A trial is scheduled for February 2027 (Deadline).
What makes this stand out is the collision between a routine legal mechanism — serving a subpoena, the court order that compels someone to testify or produce documents — and the security apparatus around a sitting president's family. The BBC's filing details repeated efforts to deliver papers in person, only to be turned away by the Secret Service and building staff. Whether a judge allows alternative service, and whether the three family members will be compelled to testify, will shape the evidence available at trial.
