Even though the BBC has apologized, Donald Trump will sue the British broadcaster and demand billions of dollars. “I think I have to do this,” said the US President. The trigger was a broadcast about the day his supporters stormed the Capitol.
US President Donald Trump wants to sue BBC England for up to five billion dollars (around 860 million euros to 4.3 billion euros) over a documentary. “We’re going to sue them for a billion to five billion dollars, probably sometime next week,” Trump told reporters aboard the presidential plane “Air Force One” on Friday (local time). “It looks like I have to do this. You even admitted to cheating,” he continued.
Trump previously threatened the broadcaster with appropriate lawsuits and gave him until Friday to apologize and pay compensation. The point is a compilation of Trump’s speech on January 6, 2021 which the broadcaster used for the “Panorama” program. The broadcast occurred shortly before the presidential election in November 2024, which Trump won against Democrat Kamala Harris. In the documentary, three parts of Trump’s speech are edited together to create the impression that he incited violence as his supporters stormed the Capitol that day.
Trump’s legal team recently threatened legal action over the broadcast and demanded that steps be taken to avoid lawsuits before Friday’s deadline. Among other things, the lawyers asked the broadcaster to withdraw the film, apologize to the president and compensate him for “financial and reputational damage.”
For the broadcast, the BBC edited different parts of Trump’s speech to his supporters at the time. That day saw a violent storming of the Capitol in the US capital, Washington, where the victory of Trump’s Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden, was to be officially confirmed.
Trump – who later resigned from office after his first term (2017-2021) but is still in office – in his speech repeated his repeated statements denying claims that he had been deprived of his election victory due to fraud. After his speech, Trump supporters stormed the parliament building.
The BBC sees no basis for taking legal action
BBC Director General Tim Davie and Head of News Deborah Turness resigned following criticism of the editing of Trump’s speech. “We made a mistake,” Davie said in a speech to station employees, referring to the editing of Trump’s speech.
On Thursday, the British television station apologized to Trump but rejected his defamation lawsuit. “The BBC sincerely regrets the way the video clip was edited but firmly believes that there is no basis for a defamation claim,” the broadcaster said.
BBC chairman Samir Shah made it clear in a private letter to the White House that he and the broadcaster regretted the cuts. Shah described the cuts as an “error of judgement” before a parliamentary committee earlier this week. The BBC also announced on its website that the program would no longer be broadcast.
AFP/dpa/rtr/dp
