Donald Trump unavailable for deposition became the next step in a Florida federal fight after his lawyers canceled the October 16 session. The has now asked Magistrate judge Enjoliqué Aytch Lett to order Trump to sit for questioning before discovery closes in the $10bn defamation case.
lawyers said the dispute landed late in discovery, with nearly eight months already completed, seven witness depositions taken, and only two months left. They also said Trump’s legal team had agreed to the deposition for Friday before telling the on 28 September that he was no longer available for October 16 because of other matters of national importance.
motion in Florida
In the Tuesday motion, the asked the court to compel Trump to confirm a date for his deposition, identify a secure location, and sit for questioning. The filing said Trump chose to bring the lawsuit and therefore accepted the obligations of civil litigation. The also said its lawyers had spent months trying to secure a location and had pledged to keep that location confidential.
The request keeps the focus on discovery, not the underlying merits. Trump filed the lawsuit in December 2025, accusing the of violating Florida’s Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act over the edit of a Panorama documentary. The apologized for the error.
Trump team cites January availability
Trump’s lawyers later suggested he would be available in the second or third week of January. That position collides with the ’s argument that discovery cannot wait, because the plaintiff himself remains the most central witness in the case and the court has only a short window left to manage depositions.
Trump’s legal team responded by attacking the ’s conduct. In a statement, a spokesperson said, “The formerly respected and now disgraced defamed President Trump by intentionally, maliciously, and deceptively doctoring his speech in a brazen attempt to interfere in the 2024 Presidential Election.” The same statement added, “The has a long pattern of deceiving its audience in coverage of President Trump, all in service of its own leftist political agenda.”
October 22 hearing before Aytch Lett
Magistrate judge Enjoliqué Aytch Lett has scheduled a discovery hearing for October 22. That hearing now sits between Trump’s canceled October 16 deposition and the end of the remaining discovery period, giving the judge a chance to decide whether Trump must give testimony before the case moves on.
The practical question is whether Trump has to appear while discovery is still open, or whether the January window his lawyers proposed will be accepted. For the, the issue is straightforward: its motion says the plaintiff remains unavailable even after months of effort, and it wants the court to force a date, a secure location, and the deposition itself.
