US President Donald Trump has filed a $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the BBC, accusing the British state broadcaster of doctoring video of his January 6, 2021 speech to make it appear he incited violence at the US Capitol.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Miami on Monday, claims the BBC’s 2024 Panorama documentary spliced together remarks made nearly an hour apart and juxtaposed them with scenes of protesters marching toward Congress – footage that was recorded before Trump had even begun speaking.
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“They had me saying things that I never said… They actually put terrible words in my mouth,” Trump told reporters on Monday.
The BBC admitted last month that the edit gave “the mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action,” issuing a formal apology. Chairman Samir Shah wrote directly to Trump to express “sincere regret” and pledged not to rebroadcast the segment.
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Trump previously accused the BBC of attempting to influence the vote with the documentary, which first aired just a week before last year’s US presidential election. The lawsuit further denounced it as “a brazen attempt to interfere in and influence the Election’s outcome to President Trump’s detriment.”
He is seeking $5 billion in damages for defamation and an additional $5 billion under Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. His legal team described the broadcaster’s conduct as “malicious,” arguing that the selective editing “could never have occurred by accident.” A spokesperson for Trump said the BBC has “a long pattern of deceiving its audience in coverage of President Trump, all in service of its own leftist political agenda.”
The BBC declined to comment further following the filing, but previously stated that it had received no contact from Trump’s lawyers after the apology. The network, which is funded through a compulsory license fee in the UK, maintains there is “no legal basis” for the defamation claim and has vowed to contest the lawsuit in court “to protect our license fee payers.”