WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump won court permission to revise his $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the British Broadcasting Corp. by excluding his earlier claim that a 12-second clip in a documentary caused massive financial damage to his business.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Roy K. Altman in Miami could spare Trump’s sprawling real estate company from being required to respond to all of the BBC’s subpoenas for extensive financial records. The news outlet argued the subpoenas were justified in order to determine whether Trump’s brand and company truly suffered as much as the president claimed.

Altman wrote in the ruling, released Monday, that Trump may still be required to comply with at least some requests for financial information because his revised lawsuit would keep the original multibillion-dollar claim for damages. Whether the updated complaint ultimately changes the scope of records the BBC is entitled to obtain will be up to a magistrate judge to decide, Altman said.

Altman added that a narrowed lawsuit could benefit the BBC because it it would lead to a “substantial diminution” in the damages Trump is potentially able to claim.

Trump’s legal team — he’s suing in his personal capacity and represented by private attorneys — and a BBC representative didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Trump sued in December over the BBC’s use of a misleading edit of a speech he gave to his supporters shortly before they attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The edit, which spliced together different parts of the speech, made it appear Trump made a direct call for violence. The BBC apologized before Trump sued, but denies defaming the president.

Trump’s suit alleged that the clip, which didn’t air in the United States, resulted in “massive economic damage to his brand value and significant damage and injury to his future financial prospects, in addition to continuing to harm his reputation as President of the United States of America.”

In response, lawyers for the BBC issued sweeping subpoenas to the Trump Organization demanding financial records spanning a period of time from before and after the documentary aired.

A magistrate judge upheld the subpoenas at a hearing in July, even after Trump’s lawyer said he would seek to amend the suit to focus only on alleged damage to Trump’s reputation.

Trump went on to win the 2024 presidential election shortly after the documentary aired. Trump’s wealth has soared since then, earning more than $1 billion from his crypto and memecoin-related businesses alone last year.

The BBC had argued against allowing Trump to amend his suit, calling the request “gamesmanship” and a “a futile and transparent effort to avoid complying with that order” to enforce the subpoenas. The news outlet said Trump could have amended the suit months ago.

Altman wrote that under federal court rules, his consideration of whether to let Trump revise his lawsuit was based on whether it would affect the merits of the claims, and not whether it would ultimately help Trump avoid turning over financial information during the evidence-gathering phase.

The case is Trump v. British Broadcasting Corporation, 25-cv-25894, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida.

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