A judge tapped by Donald Trump has been assigned to preside over the president's $10bn defamation lawsuit against the BBC, shifting control of a high-profile media dispute to a recent Trump appointee.
Jeffrey Kuntz was nominated by Trump in April and confirmed by a 51-46 majority in the Republican-led Senate last month. He moves from Florida's appeals court to the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida, and 17 cases were transferred to him following his July appointment. Kuntz replaces Judge Roy Altman, who had been supervising the suit and was also a Trump nominee, from 2019.
The litigation targets a Panorama episode that edited together segments of a speech Mr Trump delivered outside the US Capitol on 6 January 2021. The BBC has acknowledged the edit and apologised for combining two separate sections, but it has asked the court to dismiss the case. The broadcaster argues the programme did not satisfy the legal standard for defamation and that Florida lacks jurisdiction, because the episode was not available there. The president has requested a jury trial and the matter is scheduled for February 2027.
Trump announced Kuntz's nomination on his Truth Social platform, saying, "Jeffrey has been TOUGH and SMART and delivered strong results for the Sunshine State." As an appeals judge, Kuntz previously sided with Trump on other litigation. On 12 February 2025 he was one of three judges who allowed a lawsuit by the president to proceed against the Pulitzer Prize board after it honoured the New York Times and the Washington Post for reporting on purported Russian interference in the 2016 election. That case remains ongoing.
Kuntz's elevation drew accusations of a conflict of interest because he had been in talks about a possible federal judgeship while the Pulitzer matter was pending. He has said Florida judicial ethics rules did not require recusal and that the White House contacted him only after he issued his legal opinion.
During his time on the appeals bench Kuntz handled a range of matters, from disputes over release of grand jury material related to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, to questions about whether a survivor of the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting could sue a security company tied to the attacker. Related proceedings in the BBC litigation have also moved, with a judge granting a request to delay handing over certain financial records, and Mr Trump removing the broadcaster's commercial arm from aspects of the Panorama suit while keeping the main claim intact.
The assignment of Kuntz consolidates authority over the BBC case in Florida's federal court. With pretrial motions unresolved and a jury trial booked for February 2027, the next chapters will unfold under a judge who has twice ruled in ways that benefited the president and who faces scrutiny over the timing of his appointment.
