US President Donald Trump has filed a $5 billion (£3.7 billion) defamation lawsuit against the BBC in Florida, alleging the broadcaster intentionally and maliciously doctored an edit of his January 6, 2021, speech in a Panorama documentary that aired ahead of the 2024 US election.
The Original Speech: In his speech before the Capitol riot, Trump first stated: "We're going to walk down to the Capitol, and we're going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women." Approximately 50 minutes later, he said: "And we fight. We fight like hell."
The Panorama Edit: The documentary aired a clip combining these statements, making it appear as: "We're going to walk down to the Capitol... and I'll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell."
BBC Acknowledgment: The BBC previously acknowledged that the edit gave "the mistaken impression" that Trump had "made a direct call for violent action," and apologized for the edit last month, but rejected his demands for compensation and denied that the action constituted defamation.
Trump's legal team accuses the BBC of defamation and violating a trade practices law by "intentionally, maliciously, and deceptively doctoring his speech."
In November, a leaked internal BBC memo criticized the editing, leading to the resignations of the BBC's Director-General, Tim Davie, and its Head of News, Deborah Turness.
BBC lawyers had previously argued they did not distribute the program on US channels and that it was restricted to UK viewers via BBC iPlayer. Trump's lawsuit counters this by citing alleged licensing agreements with a third-party corporation for distribution outside the UK and claiming that Florida citizens likely accessed the documentary using VPNs or the streaming service BritBox.
The BBC has not yet issued a response to the lawsuit.
