Donald Trump is the very definition of a one-trick pony. After Disney made the mistake of paying for the president’s bogus defamation lawsuit against ABC News, and CBS paid for Trump’s bogus lawsuit against 60 Minutes, the president clearly thought he had found both a new cash cow and a way to intimidate and control the mainstream media.
Trump probably thought this gadget was unstoppable. He was two to two in suing broadcasters, so he accused the BBC of editing about 1/6 of the footage of him and sued for $10 billion in libel.
There was a big difference between the BBC, CBS and ABC. Trump has no power over the BBC, nor any way to threaten it. It’s difficult to execute a shakedown when the intended victim has nothing to fear.
In response to Trump’s lawsuit, the BBC did what lawyers for ABC and CBS had advised those networks to do. The BBC has not made a decision. Instead, the case was referred to the preliminary investigation, where the The BBC served a subpoena regarding Trump’s revocable trust, which is run by Donald Trump Jr. and contains information about the family’s assets and business dealings.
This is not a path Donald Trump and his family want to take, which is why the tone of the trial has changed.