Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit against the BBC over its editing of a speech he delivered to supporters in Washington before the storming of the US Capitol in 2021, seeking up to $10bn in damages.
The US president alleged the broadcaster “intentionally, maliciously, and deceptively” edited his 6 January speech prior to the insurrection, in an episode of Panorama aired just over a year ago.
In a complaint filed on Monday evening, Trump requested $5bn in damages on two counts: alleging that the BBC defamed him, and that it violated Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.
The Panorama edit, taken from sections of his speech almost an hour apart, suggested Trump told the crowd: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol and I’ll be there with you, and we fight. We fight like hell.”
The BBC did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the lawsuit. It has previously acknowledged the editing was an “error of judgment” and apologised to Trump, but insisted there was no legal basis for a defamation claim.
Tim Davie, the BBC’s director general, and Deborah Turness, the head of BBC News, resigned over the affair last month. They announced their departures amid a crisis triggered by allegations of “serious and systemic problems” in the BBC’s coverage of issues including Trump, Gaza, and trans matters.
The claims were raised by Michael Prescott, a PR executive and former independent external adviser to the BBC’s editorial guidelines and standards committee (EGSC), in a memo sent to the broadcaster’s board, which was eventually leaked to the Daily Telegraph.
Trump has long used legal threats and lawsuits to pressure news companies whose coverage he disapproves of. His lawsuit against the BBC represents a global extension of this campaign.
It was filed at the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida, even though BBC iPlayer, the main streaming platform carrying Panorama, and BBC One, the main TV channel broadcasting it, are not available in the US. The episode never aired in the country.
A spokesperson for Trump’s legal team claimed the edits of his speech, aired a week before the 2024 presidential election, amounted to a “brazen attempt” to interfere in the contest.
“The BBC has a long pattern of deceiving its audience in coverage of President Trump, all in service of its own leftist political agenda,” the spokesperson said. “President Trump’s powerhouse lawsuit is holding the BBC accountable for its defamation and reckless election interference just as he has held other fake news mainstream media responsible for their wrongdoing.”
Trump’s lawsuit argues that the Florida court has jurisdiction because the BBC is “engaged in substantial and not isolated business activities” in the state, pointing to the broadcaster’s website and BritBox, a streaming platform operating in several markets including the US.
Trump had teased the lawsuit earlier on Monday, telling reporters at the Oval Office: “In a little while, you’ll be seeing I’m suing the BBC for putting words in my mouth. Literally, they put words in my mouth. They had me saying things that I never said coming out.”
Since his re-election last November, Trump has achieved several high-profile legal victories against major media firms in the US. ABC, owned by Disney, agreed to pay $15m as part of a settlement over a defamation lawsuit he brought following comments made by anchor George Stephanopoulos.
In July, Trump also reached a $16m settlement with Paramount, parent of CBS News, over what he claimed was false editing of a pre-election interview with Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
While many legal experts viewed the case as easily winnable for Paramount, company leadership considered it a distraction, particularly as it sought federal approval for a merger with Skydance Media.
In his complaint against the BBC, Trump’s legal team wrote: “The BBC, faced with overwhelming and justifiable outrage on both sides of the Atlantic, has publicly admitted its staggering breach of journalistic ethics, and apologized, but has made no showing of actual remorse for its wrongdoing nor meaningful institutional changes to prevent future journalistic abuses.
“Accordingly, President Trump brings this action for compensatory and punitive damages for the extensive reputational harm inflicted upon him by the defendants.”
Trump has repeatedly denied responsibility for the January 2021 insurrection, which aimed to prevent Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s win in the 2020 US presidential election.
Following his return to office earlier this year, Trump pardoned hundreds involved in the attack, including some convicted of violent acts.
On Monday, press freedom campaigners urged the BBC to stand firm and “fight back”.
“You don’t get to call out any alleged journalistic blunder and demand $10bn,” Seth Stern, director of advocacy at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, said. “It’s preposterous for Trump to claim those damages when he won the 2024 election and hasn’t lost a penny because of the BBC’s editing.
“It’s also absurd for him to claim associating him with January 6 is defamatory after he spent years insisting nothing bad happened that day and then pardoned those involved. And it’s similarly outrageous that his claims are based on supposedly damaging implications of his using the word ‘fight’. He sells T-shirts with that word on them.”
