A U.S. federal judge has approved an emergency motion from former President Donald Trump to temporarily pause the handover of confidential financial records to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), as the high-profile $10 billion defamation lawsuit between the two parties moves through Florida’s court system. The legal dispute stems from a 2021 episode of the BBC’s flagship investigative program *Panorama*, which edited together separate segments of a speech Trump delivered ahead of the January 6 Capitol riot. The editing error created a misleading impression that Trump directly encouraged violent action, a mistake the broadcaster has publicly apologized for, but one that prompted Trump to file suit. Under original court orders issued in July, Trump was required to turn over the first batch of financial documents by August 8, a deadline that followed the BBC’s formal request for the records. The BBC argues the documents are critical to responding to Trump’s original claim that the edited documentary caused severe damage to his business brands and commercial interests. Trump’s legal team submitted the emergency stay request earlier this week, arguing that the disclosure of the former president’s private financial data would cause irreversible harm that cannot be remedied later if the court ultimately sides with Trump on his current objection to the disclosure order. The request for a delay also comes as Trump seeks to amend the core of his lawsuit, a change that would make the financial document release unnecessary entirely. Under the proposed amendment, Trump would drop all claims that the documentary harmed his business ventures. Instead, his complaint would be revised to only seek damages for direct reputational harm to him personally, with no reference to business or brand damage. In her ruling issued Thursday, the judge agreed to pause the disclosure requirement until the court issues a formal ruling on whether Trump will be allowed to amend his complaint. Spokespeople for the BBC have pushed back sharply on Trump’s delay request, characterizing it as a blatant attempt to avoid meeting standard discovery obligations that any plaintiff accepts when filing a lawsuit. The organization noted that this delay is just the latest in a months-long pattern where Trump has refused to produce requested documents, provide sworn answers to written questions, confirm deposition dates, or share any substantive evidence to back his $10 billion claim. A key point of contention for the BBC is that the *Panorama* episode in question was never aired or made publicly available to U.S. audiences, which the broadcaster argues undermines the defamation claim under U.S. law. Just last month, Trump’s own legal team acknowledged that they have no evidence to back up their original assertion that the documentary was distributed to U.S. viewers via the BBC’s BritBox streaming service, BBC.com, BBC Select, or any U.S. broadcast partner. In another recent development in the case, Trump also agreed to remove BBC Studios, the broadcaster’s commercial division, from the lawsuit after the BBC demonstrated that the unit played no role in creating or producing the *Panorama* episode. The BBC has repeatedly called on the court to dismiss the lawsuit entirely, arguing that the editing error was an innocent mistake that does not meet the strict legal standards for defamation in the United States, particularly given the program’s lack of distribution in the country.