A federal judge in Florida ordered President Donald Trump on Thursday to sit for a deposition in his defamation lawsuit against the BBC by Dec. 11 or face the possibility of having his $10 billion action dismissed.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué Lett handed down the order after the BBC’s lawyers complained that Trump was stalling. He was supposed to sit for a deposition on Oct. 16 but canceled it for a “matter of national importance.”

BBC attorney Charles Tobin told Lett that was “fake news” — the matter turned out to be a political rally and a fundraiser.

“He was participating in party politics and supported his candidates in the election, and he prioritized that over his obligations in this proceeding,” Tobin said.

Trump’s attorneys had proposed postponing his deposition until late January, which Tobin said was too late. Discovery in the case is supposed to close Dec. 18, and Trump is the most important witness in the case since he’s the one who claims he suffered billions of dollars in damages from the BBC’s 2024 story, Tobin said.

Lett also ruled that the deposition can be videotaped — which Trump attorney Alejandro Brito argued against. Lett agreed with Brito that the deposition date could be pushed back if the district judge overseeing the case extends the deadline for discovery, but she said only that judge, Jeffrey Kuntz, has the power to do that.

The BBC declined to comment.

Asked about the deposition date, a spokesman for Trump’s personal legal team said in a statement, “President Trump’s powerhouse lawsuit is holding the BBC accountable for its defamation and reckless election interference just as he has held other fake news mainstream media responsible for their wrongdoing.”

Trump sued the British news organization last year, alleging it aired a “false, defamatory, deceptive, disparaging, inflammatory, and malicious depiction” of him in a documentary that spliced together comments from his speech at the Ellipse ahead of the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.

The BBC has acknowledged splicing comments from the speech together but maintains that Trump was not defamed and that he did not suffer any damages. While Trump has complained the documentary aired in the days before the 2024 election, the BBC said it never aired the special in the U.S.

The BBC issued a subpoena to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida for information about whether membership applications and fees were affected by its documentary, which did not air in the U.S.

Brito had argued that the subpoena should be quashed because Trump is not arguing the show affected the business.

Tobin countered that Trump’s suit says the documentary “injured President Trump in his profession, occupation and trade,” so that information should be fair game. Lett agreed that it “falls within” the kind of information that should be turned over.

Another BBC attorney, Sasha Dudding, told the judge later in the hearing that Trump’s lawyers contend that “this 12-second edit that aired in England costs him $10 billion.”

“If he had truly been harmed by this documentary, we would expect to see a loss,” they said.

Brito also urged the judge to quash the BBC’s subpoena for former special counsel Jack Smith, who charged Trump with conspiracy to defraud the United States related to the Jan. 6 attack and his attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Trump pleaded not guilty, and the case was dismissed following Trump’s re-election. In his report on the investigation to then-Attorney General Merrick Garland, Smith wrote that Trump had “inspired his supporters to commit acts of physical violence” on Jan. 6.

Brito argued that Smith’s information is all secondhand and that he would need permission from the Justice Department to testify.

The BBC contended in a court filing that it is “difficult to imagine a more authoritative source on these issues than Mr. Smith.”

Lett asked for more information on the dispute and will rule on that issue later.