US President Donald Trump has threatened legal action against the BBC for its editing of a speech he made in 2021 on the day his supporters overran the Capitol, which the British broadcaster admitted was an “error of judgement”.
Trump’s lawyers said the BBC must retract its documentary by 14 November or face a lawsuit for “no less” than US$1 billion ($1.5 billion), according to a letter sent on Sunday local time.
The documentary on the BBC’s flagship Panorama program spliced together two separate excerpts from one of Trump’s speeches, creating the impression that he was inciting the January 6 riot, which the lawyers said was “false and defamatory”.
The BBC is currently facing a significant crisis following the fallout from a controversial speech and mounting criticism of its news division. This turmoil has led to the resignation of two of its highest-ranking officials: Director General Tim Davie and Chief Executive of News Deborah Turness, who both stepped down on Sunday.
Its chair Samir Shah on Monday apologised for the editing of the footage, but he rejected claims of systemic bias in the broadcaster’s news reporting.
The broadcaster is now contemplating its next steps in addressing the legal challenges that have arisen from the situation.
Shah acknowledged that the BBC understands the way the speech was edited might have conveyed an unintended message, seemingly endorsing violence.
The crisis was sparked by the leaking of an internal report that raised concerns about the BBC’s coverage, including the edit of the Trump speech in a program broadcast shortly before the November 2024 US presidential election.
Trump supporters overran the Capitol on that day, when Congress was due to certify Democrat Joe Biden’s win over Trump in the November 2020 election.
The editing was included in a dossier leaked to the Daily Telegraph newspaper, which also included criticism of the BBC’s coverage of Israel’s war in Gaza and transgender issues.
Tim Davie, the outgoing Director General, will remain in his role temporarily to ensure a smooth transition while the search for his successor is underway.
BBC director general Tim Davie will stay on for the next few months while a replacement is found. Credit: Andrew Milligan / PA
“The BBC would like to apologise for that error of judgement,” he said in a letter to politicians.
The letter by Trump’s lawyers said the BBC violated Florida defamation law by deliberately omitting facts and deceptively juxtaposing them to create a false impression of what Trump said.
It is typically difficult for public figures like Trump to win defamation cases under US law because they must prove defendants knew or should have known information was false but published it anyway.
Several US media companies, including CBS and ABC News, have recently settled lawsuits filed by the US president.
While Shah accepted criticism of the Trump edit, he hit back at suggestions the BBC had sought to bury any of the allegations around bias, or failed to tackle any problems. Asked if the charges of systemic bias were wrong, he said “yes”.
A spokesperson for UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer denied the BBC was institutionally biased or corrupt, and said the government supported the corporation.
