US President Donald Trump has filed his long-threatened defamation lawsuit against the BBC, seeking up to $10bn (£7.5bn) in response to Panorama’s editing of a speech he made before the 2021 attack on the Capitol.
Documents filed at a court in Florida asked for $5bn (£3.7bn) in damages for defamation, as well as the same amount for a claim of violating trade practices under the the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.
The 33-page lawsuit accuses the organisation of broadcasting a “false, defamatory, deceptive, disparaging, inflammatory, and malicious depiction of President Trump”, calling it “a brazen attempt to interfere in and influence” the 2024 US presidential election.
It also accused the BBC of “splicing together two entirely separate parts of President Trump’s speech on January 6, 2021” in order to “intentionally misrepresent the meaning of what President Trump said.”
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The Panorama programme was not shown in the US, but the lawsuit says it can be watched on the BritBox subscription streaming platform.
It also claims “millions of Florida citizens use a virtual private network (VPN) to view content such as the Panorama documentary.”
The lawsuit also alleges a Canadian third-party media group, Blue Ant Media Corporation, had licensing rights to the documentary outside the UK and has distributed the programme “in North America, including Florida.” The BBC has not yet responded to these claims.
The lawsuit names BBC, BBC Studios Distribution and BBC Studios Production as defendants.
The complaint from Trump’s legal team alleges there is “substantial evidence” that demonstrates the BBC and its leadership “bore President Trump ill will, wanted him to lose the 2024 presidential election, and were dishonest in their coverage of him” before the broadcast of the documentary.
The document also repeats statements by UK politicians including former PM Liz Truss, who claimed the BBC has demonstrated a “pattern of actual malice.”
A BBC spokesperson said last night: “We have had no further contact from President Trump’s lawyers at this point. Our position remains the same.”
The row erupted earlier this year after a leaked internal memo highlighted concerns about the way clips of Trump’s speech on 6 January 2021 were spliced together so it appeared he had told supporters he was going to walk to the US Capitol with them to “fight like hell.”
After the leak, BBC chairman Samir Shah apologised on behalf of the BBC over an “error of judgment” and accepted the editing of the 2024 documentary gave “the impression of a direct call for violent action.” The programme was broadcast a week before the US election in November 2024. The fallout from the report led to the resignation last month of both BBC director-general Tim Davie and BBC News chief executive Deborah Turness.
Despite the apology, Trump said he would proceed with legal action for “anywhere between $1bn (£759.8m) and $5bn (£3.79bn).”
Trump has a history of suing news organisations in the US. He has recently attempted legal action with both The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, and suggested that media outlets, including ABC, CNN and CBS, that broadcast content that is not to his liking should have their licences removed.
The BBC has previously set out several reasons why it does not think there is any basis for legal action, including:
- The doc Trump: A Second Chance? did not air in the US, nor was it available on iPlayer.
- The programme could not have caused the US president “overwhelming reputational harm” because he went on to win the US presidential election after it was aired.
- There was no malicious intention in the editing of the clip (this must be proved under US law).
- The film as a whole was balanced and did not harm Trump’s reputation.
- Free speech around politics and political opinion is heavily protected under US law, particularly under the First Amendment to the US constitution.
Trump is unlikely to be able to sue in the UK as it has been more than one year since the Panorama episode aired, meaning the statute of limitations for legal action has passed.
Speaking to reporters last night, Trump went further than criticising the editing, suggesting the BBC may have used AI to “put words in [his] mouth.”
“In a little while, you’ll be seeing I’m suing the BBC for putting words in my mouth,” he said. “Literally, they put words in my mouth. They had me saying things that I never said coming out. I guess they used AI or something. So we’ll be bringing that lawsuit.
“They actually have me speaking with words that I never said and they got caught because I believe somebody at BBC said, ‘This is so bad, it has to be reported’. That’s called fake news.”
