By Aldgra Fredly
President Donald Trump said Nov. 14 that he will bring a lawsuit of up to $5 billion against the BBC next week over edits made to his Jan. 6, 2021, speech, which was featured in the UK broadcaster’s documentary.
The day before, the BBC issued a personal apology to Trump for its “Panorama” documentary episode, titled “Donald Trump: A Second Chance?” though the broadcaster said there was no basis for Trump to file a defamation suit.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Nov. 14, Trump was asked if he thinks the BBC’s apology and decision to retract the documentary were enough to resolve the matter. The president said he would take legal action.
“We’ll sue them for anywhere between a billion and $5 billion, probably sometime next week,” the president told reporters.
“I think I have to do it, I mean, they’ve even admitted that they cheated. Not that they couldn’t have not done that. They cheated. They changed the words coming out of my mouth,” he said.
Trump said he plans to speak with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer about the matter over the weekend, noting that Starmer had tried to reach out to him and was “very embarrassed” by what happened.
“The people of the UK are very angry about what happened as you can imagine, because it shows the BBC is fake news,” he stated.
The BBC’s “Panorama” documentary, which was aired one week before the 2024 presidential election, spliced together parts of Trump’s Jan. 6, 2021, speech, making it seem as though he delivered a direct call for violence by asking supporters to march with him and “fight like hell.”
“That’s a pretty sad event. They actually changed my January 6 speech, which was a beautiful speech, which was a very calming speech, and they made it sound radical,” Trump told Fox News on Nov. 10.
Trump attorney Alejandro Brito had urged the BBC to retract the documentary, issue an apology, and compensate Trump for the harm caused, warning that the broadcaster could face a $1 billion lawsuit if it failed to do so.
The BBC stated on Nov. 13 that it had personally apologized to Trump via a letter to the White House and said it does not intend to rebroadcast the documentary on any of its platforms.
“While the BBC sincerely regrets the manner in which the video clip was edited, we strongly disagree there is a basis for a defamation claim,” the broadcaster said in a statement.
BBC Director-General Tim Davie and CEO of News Deborah Turness announced their resignations on Nov. 9 after fallout from the scandal.
BBC Chairman Samir Shah also sent a letter to the UK’s Culture, Media, and Sport Committee on Nov. 10 apologizing for an “error of judgement” regarding the editing of Trump’s speech.
Established by a Royal Charter, the BBC is a public service broadcaster principally funded through an annual license fee paid by UK households, according to its website.
Jacki Thrapp contributed to this report.
