U.S. President Donald Trump has filed a multi-billion-dollar lawsuit against the BBC over its editing of a documentary featuring a 2021 speech he delivered.
An internal BBC memo leaked to The Telegraph last month accused the public broadcaster of editing Trump’s remarks in a “completely misleading” way.
It alleged the edits were made to suggest Trump encouraged the 6 January 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Legal documents say the President is seeking at least $US5 billion in damages, alleging defamation and breaches of American trade law.
Capitol Riot
On 6 January 2021, Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to halt the certification of the 2020 Presidential election results.
The siege caused over $US2.8 million ($AU4.6 million) in damage to the Capitol building and costs incurred by police.
Several deaths have been linked to the riot, both on the day and in the following weeks.
On his first day back in office, Trump pardoned more than 1,000 people convicted of crimes relating to the riot.
The edit
Last month, The Telegraph published a letter written by former independent editorial standards adviser Michael Prescott to the BBC board.
In the letter, Prescott said a documentary aired a week before the 2024 U.S. election was “neither balanced nor impartial”.
He said a review of the program had found it “spliced together two clips from separate parts of his speech,” made almost an hour apart, to suggest “Trump said something he did not”. Prescott alleged BBC managers dismissed concerns raised about this edit.
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Response
Following the scandal, two senior BBC executives resigned. Trump welcomed the move, saying they had been exposed for employing “corrupt journalists” who “tried to tip the scales of a presidential election”.
In a subsequent letter from Trump’s lawyers, he threatened legal action unless the BBC issued an apology.
The BBC apologised, saying it “sincerely regrets the manner” in which the content was edited, but denied there was “a basis for a defamation claim”. Despite the apology, Trump is pursuing legal action.
Lawsuit
Trump said the lawsuit was the result of the BBC “putting words in [his] mouth”.
In legal filings lodged in the federal court in Florida, Trump’s lawyers acknowledged the broadcaster’s apology, but said it “has made no showing of actual remorse for its wrongdoing”.
Lawyers are seeking payment of damages, alleging that the BBC “intentionally and maliciously sought to fully mislead its viewers” by misrepresenting “the meaning of what President Trump said.”
While the BBC is based in the UK, the lawsuit argues the case can be heard in the U.S. because the broadcaster has a “concrete and continuous presence in the United States,” including an office in Florida.
The filing also says the BBC “intentionally, purposefully, and continuously” broadcasts news content to millions of Americans through its digital platforms.
It notes the documentary was accessible to U.S. viewers via the subscription streaming service BritBox.
The BBC said it will defend the case.
