US President Donald Trump has filed a defamation lawsuit against the BBC over an edit of his 6 January 2021 speech in a Panorama documentary.
Trump has requested billions of dollars in damages, according to court documents filed in Florida.
The BBC apologised to Trump in November, but rejected his demands for compensation and disagreed there was any “basis for a defamation claim”.
Trump’s legal team accused the BBC of defaming him by “intentionally, maliciously, and deceptively doctoring his speech”. The BBC has not yet responded to the lawsuit being filed.
According to the filing, Trump sued the broadcaster for one count of defamation and one count of violating a Florida trade practices law.
Trump said last month that he planned to sue the BBC over the way his 6 January speech was edited as part of the Panorama documentary, which aired ahead of the 2024 US election in the UK.
“I think I have to do it,” Trump told reporters of his plans to sue. “They cheated. They changed the words coming out of my mouth.”
In his 6 January speech, he told supporters in Washington: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women.”
More than 50 minutes later in the speech, he said: “And we fight. We fight like hell.”
In the Panorama programme, a clip showed him as saying: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol… and I’ll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell.”
The BBC acknowledged that the edit had given “the mistaken impression” he had “made a direct call for violent action”.
By BBC News
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