Trump sues BBC for $10bn over edited January 6 speech

Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit seeking at least $10bn from the BBC, accusing the UK broadcaster of defaming him by editing a 2021 speech to supporters ahead of the US Capitol riot.

The lawsuit, filed on Monday in federal court in Miami, demands “damages in an amount not less than $5,000,000,000” on each of two counts: defamation and violation of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. Together, the claims push the total sought to at least $10bn.

Trump confirmed the move earlier in the day.

“I’m suing the BBC for putting words in my mouth, literally… I guess they used AI or something,” he told reporters at the White House.
“That’s called fake news .”

At the centre of the case is a BBC Panorama documentary that aired shortly before the 2024 presidential election. The programme edited together parts of Trump’s January 6, 2021 speech, including a segment urging supporters to march on the Capitol and another in which he said, “Fight like hell”.

According to the lawsuit, the edit removed language in which Trump also called for peaceful protest, creating what his lawyers argue was a misleading impression that he had made a direct call for violence.

Trump’s legal team says the documentary caused severe reputational and financial harm. In the filing, Trump argues that the BBC, despite later apologising, “has made no showing of actual remorse for its wrongdoing nor meaningful institutional changes to prevent future journalistic abuses”.

The BBC has acknowledged an error of judgement and said the edit gave viewers a mistaken impression. However, it has rejected the legal basis of Trump’s claim. The broadcaster argues that under the US Constitution’s strong protections for free speech and the press, Trump must prove not only that the edit was false and defamatory, but also that the BBC knowingly misled viewers or acted recklessly.

Legal experts say the BBC could argue the documentary was substantially true, that the editing did not amount to defamation, or that the programme did not damage Trump’s reputation.

A spokesman for Trump’s legal team accused the BBC of having “a long pattern of deceiving its audience in coverage of President Trump, all in service of its own leftist political agenda”.

The BBC did not immediately respond to requests for comment after the lawsuit was filed.

The controversy around the Panorama episode sparked a major internal crisis at the broadcaster, leading to the resignations of its two most senior officials.