Donald Trump is fighting to keep his financial records private in a $10 billion (£7.5 billion) defamation lawsuit against the BBC.
His legal team has successfully obtained an emergency suspension of a judge’s ruling that mandated the disclosure of these documents.
The temporary halt comes as Mr Trump seeks to amend his complaint, aiming to narrow his claim and thereby limit the extent of information he must reveal.
The original court order had required a “substantial production” of paperwork by 6 August, but its enforcement is now on hold.
Mr Trump intends to focus his claim solely on reputational injury, moving away from his initial allegations of broader harm to his brand and businesses.
Court documents indicate that the BBC had opposed this motion to stay proceedings.
The lawsuit, filed in a Florida court, seeks significant damages over the editing of a 2024 Panorama documentary concerning the US Capitol riots.
Judge Enjolique Lett last month granted the request by BBC lawyers for information from the Donald J Trump Revocable Trust, which holds the president’s business interests and assets and is managed by his eldest son.
The trust, which is also represented by Mr Trump’s lawyers, had sought to resist the demand previously, arguing: “Although plaintiff has alleged that his businesses have suffered damages as a result of the documentary, that alone does not give defendants carte-blanche to obtain sweeping financial discovery from hundreds of non-parties.”
In seeking to pause enforcement of the subsequent order, the trust argued that Mr Trump had “sought leave to file an amended complaint”.
It said this would “update the damages allegations” made by the president and so render the “stated basis for the trust-wide financial production… moot”.
The published district court ruling allowing the emergency motion stated: “This is a compelling argument.
“If the plaintiff’s amendment obviates the need to compel a non-party to disclose confidential financial information, we think it’s prudent to enter a brief stay of the order until the amendment request is resolved.”
On narrowing Mr Trump’s complaint, his lawyer, according to court documents, said: “Even if there has been a harm to the brand, we are not pursuing that as part of our damages.
“So I don’t want to acknowledge that the brand has or has not suffered any injury, but I am telling the court that I am not going to leverage any such injury, to the extent it exists, as part of my damage claim.
“It is simply the reputational injury to the president, full stop.”
In suing the BBC, Mr Trump originally alleged the Panorama episode, broadcast shortly before the 2024 presidential election he won, had caused him both reputational and financial injury.
The documentary has faced criticism for giving the impression the US president had encouraged his supporters to storm the Capitol building on January 6 2021 after he lost the election to Joe Biden.
The allegations led the then-BBC director-general Tim Davie to announce his resignation.
BBC chairman Samir Shah apologised on behalf of the broadcaster over an “error of judgment”, and accepted the editing of the programme gave “the impression of a direct call for violent action”.
However, the broadcaster is seeking to have the case thrown out, warning of the “chilling effect” it would have on “robust reporting on public figures and events”.
It has also challenged the jurisdiction of a Florida court to hear the case given the programme was never aired in the state or the US.
