Donald Trump has made good on an earlier threat of a lawsuit against the BBC over an edited speech of his in a Panorama documentary.
The 33-page legal action, brought in the U.S. District Court Southern District of Florida, alleges the BBC made “a false, defamatory, deceptive, disparaging, inflammatory, and malicious depiction of President Trump, which was published in a BBC Panorama documentary, that was fabricated and aired by the defendants one week before the 2024 presidential election in a brazen attempt to interfere in and influence the election’s outcome to President Trump’s detriment.”
The lawsuit claims the documentary was edited to make it appear Trump, during his Jan. 6, 2021, speech outside the White House, had urged his followers to attack the U.S. Capitol. The legal action was preceded by the BBC receiving a letter from Trump’s legal team that demanded the retraction of defamatory remarks in the Panorama documentary and compensation for “harm caused,” or the U.K. broadcaster would face legal action in Florida.
A BBC spokesperson on Nov. 14 in a statement said that “BBC chair Samir Shah has separately sent a personal letter to the White House making clear to President Trump that he and the corporation are sorry for the edit of the President’s speech on 6 January 2021, which featured in the program.”
But the U.K. broadcaster at the time rejected the call for compensation. The apology to Trump was made after a leaked memo concluded that a speech of his was doctored to make it appear as though he encouraged the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.
Also in mid-November, BBC News CEO Deborah Turness and the corporation’s director-general Tim Davie resigned over the Panorama documentary affair. Trump’s lawsuit is seeking $5 billion in damages, in addition to legal costs.
Read the full article here
