US President Donald Trump has filed a $5 billion (£3.7 billion) lawsuit against the bbcaccusing the broadcaster of defamation for the editing of his January 6, 2021 speech in a Panorama documentary.
The lawsuit was filed in Florida and claims the BBC violated the Trade Practices Act by editing Trump’s speech in a way that his legal team says changed its meaning. Trump alleges that the editing made it appear that he had directly called for violence before the riot at the US Capitol.
The BBC apologized to Trump last month, acknowledging that the editing gave “the wrong impression” that he had “made a direct call for violent action.”
However, the broadcaster rejected claims for compensation, saying there was “no basis for a defamation claim.”
Trump’s legal team accused the BBC of defaming him by “intentionally, maliciously and misleadingly altering his speech” in the documentary broadcast in the UK ahead of the 2024 US election.
Trump said last month that he planned to take legal action. “I think I have to do it,” Trump told reporters. “They cheated. They changed the words that came out of my mouth.”
During his speech on January 6, 2021, Trump told his supporters: “We are going to walk to the Capitol and cheer on our brave senators, congressmen and congresswomen.”
More than 50 minutes later, he said, “And we fought. We fought like hell.”
On the Panorama show, those comments were edited together to show Trump saying, “We’re going to walk to the Capitol… and I’ll be there with you. And we’ll fight. We’ll fight like hell.”
An internal BBC memo leaked in November criticized how the speech was edited. Following the memo, BBC director general Tim Davie and head of news Deborah Turness resigned.
Before Trump sued, BBC lawyers sent a detailed response to his claims, saying there was no malice in the editing and arguing that Trump was not harmed by the show, noting that he was re-elected shortly after it aired.
The BBC also said it did not have the rights to distribute the documentary in the United States and that it was not shown on its American channels. While available on BBC iPlayer, the show was restricted to UK viewers.
In his lawsuit, Trump disputes this, pointing to agreements between the BBC and other distributors, including one with a third-party media corporation that allegedly had licensing rights to show the documentary outside the United Kingdom. Neither the BBC nor the aforementioned company have responded to these claims.
The lawsuit also argues that people in Florida may have accessed the show via VPN or through the BritBox streaming service.
“Publicity for the Panorama Documentary, coupled with significant increases in VPN usage in Florida since its debut, establishes the overwhelming likelihood that Florida citizens accessed the Documentary before the BBC removed it,” the lawsuit says.
UK political backlash followed the court filing, with Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey urging the Prime Minister to intervene.
“Keir Starmer needs to defend the BBC against Trump’s outrageous legal threat and protect license payers from being hit in the pocket,” he said.