President Trump sued the BBC for $10 billion on Monday night over the editing of a documentary that the British broadcaster said had left the “erroneous impression” that it called for violent action before the storming of the US Capitol.
In a 46-page lawsuit filed in federal court in Miami, Trump accused the BBC of defaming him and violating Florida’s Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act. He demanded 5 billion dollars for each crime.
In a statement, the president’s legal team said the lawsuit was designed to hold the British network accountable for what it described as irregularities.
“The previously respected and now disgraced BBC defamed President Trump by intentionally, maliciously and deceptively altering his speech in a brazen attempt to interfere in the 2024 presidential election,” the statement said.
The BBC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump said last month that he planned to file a $1 billion lawsuit against the BBC over its 2024 documentary, “Trump: A Second Chance?” He later told reporters on Air Force One that he planned to sue for up to $5 billion.
“I think I have to do it,” he said at the time. “They’ve even admitted to cheating.”
The BBC documentary was broadcast before last year’s presidential election on the network’s flagship programme, “Panorama”. It received little attention until recently, when The Daily Telegraph, a major conservative-aligned London newspaper, reported last month that an internal BBC review had criticized the way the show was edited.
In the documentary, Trump is shown speaking to the crowd on the Washington Mall on Jan. 6, 2021. The network spliced together two clips of the president speaking about 50 minutes apart, leaving the impression that he was urging people to participate in the riot that later broke out at the Capitol.
Trump’s lawsuit cited the BBC’s internal review, which concluded that there had been “a series of incidents demonstrating serious bias in the corporation’s reporting.”
The revelation of the criticism in the internal review led to the abrupt resignations of BBC director general Tim Davie and BBC News chief executive Deborah Turness. Samir Shah, chairman of the network’s board of directors, apologized in a letter to a parliamentary committee, saying the edit had been an “error of judgement.”
Shah also apologized directly to Trump. But Shah and network officials rejected claims that Trump had grounds to sue or that the error was evidence of fundamental bias in BBC news.
“While the BBC sincerely regrets the way the video clip was edited, we do not agree that there is a basis for a defamation claim,” the network wrote in a statement after Trump’s legal threat.
Trump has taken legal action against numerous news organizations. CBS and its parent company, Paramount, paid $16 million to settle a lawsuit it filed over the editing of an interview on “60 Minutes.”
Last year, ABC paid $16 million to settle a defamation lawsuit related to on-air comments by host George Stephanopoulos.
The president also has a pending defamation lawsuit against The New York Times, which accuses the news organization of trying to undermine his 2024 bid and disparage his reputation. The Times says the lawsuit is baseless.
