Donald Trump has filed a $10 billion (£7.4bn) lawsuit against the BBC, accusing the broadcaster of defamation over the editing of one of his speeches in a Panorama documentary.
Court papers submitted in Florida seek $5bn in damages for defamation, alongside a further $5bn under an alleged breach of trade practices.
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The legal action follows a heated dispute that surfaced in November over a Panorama episode broadcast in October last year, shortly before Trump was re-elected as US president.
At the centre of the case is footage from a speech Trump delivered to supporters on 6 January 2021, hours before the Capitol riots, which the programme edited together using two separate excerpts.
BBC Panorama Editing at the Centre of Legal Battle
In the programme, Trump appears to say he would walk to the Capitol with his supporters to “fight like hell”. However, in the original speech, he told the crowd he would walk with them “to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard”.
Trump later used the phrase “fight like hell” during a different part of the address, while repeating false claims that the 2020 presidential election had been stolen from him.
The 33-page lawsuit claims the BBC aired a “false, defamatory, deceptive, disparaging, inflammatory, and malicious depiction of President Trump.” It further alleges the edit was “a brazen attempt to interfere in and influence” the 2024 US presidential election.
Lawsuit Claims Misrepresentation and Political Interference
According to the filing, the BBC deliberately “splic[ed] together two entirely separate parts of President Trump’s speech on January 6, 2021” in order to “intentionally misrepresent the meaning” of his words.
Although the Panorama episode was not broadcast in the United States, the lawsuit argues that it remains accessible to American audiences via the BritBox subscription streaming service.
The BBC has said it has not yet responded formally to the court filing.
Donald Trump Responds as BBC Faces Internal Fallout
Speaking on Monday, Trump said, “In a little while, you’ll be seeing I’m suing the BBC for putting words in my mouth literally. They had me saying things that I never said.”
Last month, BBC chairman Samir Shah apologised for what he described as an “error of judgment”, acknowledging that the editing of the 2024 documentary gave “the impression of a direct call for violent action”.
Despite the apology, the corporation has maintained that Trump has no grounds for a defamation claim. The controversy has already had significant consequences, triggering the resignation of BBC director general Tim Davie and head of news Deborah Turness.
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