Good afternoon, everyone. Lots of news to cover, beginning with the fact that Donald Trump's lawsuit against the BBC for defamation is backfiring because discovery is now open, and the BBC is seeking Trump's personal diary entries along with his call logs from January 6, 2021, and the months preceding it. This is what happens when you sue — you open yourself up to discovery. And well, now the President of the United States may have to give over documents he really didn't want to.
At the same time this evening, the United States launched significant strikes on Iran. Once again, I often say there is no ceasefire because we continue to strike, and that statement holds true today. There were mass protests in Washington, D.C. Thousands of people took to the streets against the America 250 celebrations that are ongoing right now and against the current president. Trump, meanwhile, compared himself to Obama again, even though his comparison is false. And well, the state fair not doing so hot. I have the latest. Like, comment, share. Thank you to all those who have subscribed — truly means the world to me. Met some of you in person today. Please come up to me. Please say hi. Means the world to me. If you can support my work, subscribe to my Substack, link below. Let's jump right into it.
Lawyers for the broadcaster BBC have now demanded that Trump disclose a string of documents for the case, including his telephone logs, calendar schedules, and diaries from November 3rd, 2020 through January 20th, 2021. The president is demanding $10 billion in damages from the BBC in the defamation lawsuit brought about by the Telegraph's reporting. In November, the newspaper disclosed that Panorama had allegedly spliced separate parts of Trump's speech on January 6th in a way that wrongly suggested he urged his supporters to 'fight like hell.' Mr. Trump's lawyers responded by accusing the BBC of trying to put the president on trial for the riot, even though, remember, Trump was literally indicted by a grand jury of his peers on charges related to the January 6th insurrection.
Well, now the BBC is asking for Trump's legal team to identify all persons with whom Trump communicated regarding any aspect of the January 6th, 2021 Stop the Steal rally, including but not limited to planning the event, the speech, and discussions about the event after the fact. In addition, the discovery requests include calendars, schedules, diaries, communications, phone logs — anything leading up to and on and shortly thereafter the January 6th insurrection. I'm not sure what he realized when he brought this lawsuit. Ultimately, discovery produces documents and evidence that is simply relevant to the case. That is the standard. It is a very low bar. A lot of things are relevant. Relevant facts, by law, are facts that make any point more or less true.
So, regarding defamation, the BBC is being sued for making allegedly a defamatory statement against Donald Trump. Well, that statement concerning the January 6th insurrection was at the Stop the Steal rally, and therefore documents and communications related to the statements Trump made at the rally would be highly relevant. I would predict, though, that maybe if Trump is forced to hand over these records, you may see this lawsuit quickly be dismissed.
At the same time today, Washington, D.C. residents took to the streets — over a thousand people — to protest an alternative America 250. Right now, there are a lot of people who don't believe that America is great, that America's current iteration is moving our country forward. And I actually spoke with PBS News today, and they asked me what was my rose and my thorn about America 250. My thorn was that we are making the same mistakes of our past. We are going backwards in many respects. We are stifling press freedom. We are attacking minorities. Right? That's what we're doing right now. We are making the mistakes of the past instead of learning from them.
My rose, though, was that you see images like this — people taking to the streets, many young people rising up to make their voice heard, to exercise their First Amendment rights. And it's not just happening in the United States. It's happening across the world, in Albania as well. And here's what Senator John Ossoff had to say about that.
