U.S. President Donald Trump has formally threatened to sue the British broadcaster BBC for “no less than US $1 billion”, alleging defamation over the editing of his January 6, 2021 speech. In a letter sent on Sunday, Trump’s attorney stated:
“This correspondence serves as a demand … that you immediately retract the false, defamatory, disparaging, and inflammatory statements made about President Trump … Failure to comply will leave President Trump with no choice but to pursue any and all legal rights and remedies available to recover damages.”
The dispute centres on a documentary in the BBC’s Panorama series titled “Trump: A Second Chance?”, which the legal team alleges “intentionally sought to completely mislead its viewers by splicing together three separate parts of President Trump’s speech.” The broadcaster’s chairman, Samir Shah, apologized in a letter, writing:
“We accept that the way the speech was edited did give the impression of a direct call for violent action. The BBC would like to apologize for that error of judgment.”
Amid the fallout, two senior executives — Director-General Tim Davie and News Chief Deborah Turness — announced their resignations.
The BBC has stated that it is “reviewing the letter and will respond directly in due course.”