U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday he plans to sue the BBC as early as next week for up to $5 billion, escalating a transatlantic dispute after the broadcaster admitted it improperly edited a video of his January 6, 2021, speech but rejected his accusations of defamation.
The controversy has plunged the BBC into its most serious crisis in decades, triggering the resignations of Director General Tim Davie and head of news Deborah Turness amid mounting allegations of bias and flawed editorial practices.
The dispute centers on a Panorama documentary that spliced together three separate clips of Trump’s remarks, creating the impression he was inciting the Capitol riot. Trump’s lawyers have called the edit “false and defamatory,” demanding the documentary be withdrawn, a formal apology issued, and compensation of at least $1 billion.
The BBC has acknowledged the edit was an “error of judgement” and issued a personal apology to Trump on Thursday, but it has refused to retract the program or concede to defamation claims.
It also said it would not rebroadcast the documentary and has launched a review of editing practices following additional concerns tied to its Newsnight program.
Speaking aboard Air Force One en route to Florida, Trump said the apology was insufficient. “We’ll sue them for anywhere between $1 billion and $5 billion, probably sometime next week,” he told reporters. “They changed the words coming out of my mouth. Fake news wasn’t strong enough, this is corrupt.”
In a separate interview with GB News, Trump compared the edit to election interference, insisting the documentary distorted a “beautiful statement” he delivered that day.
The altered clips were nearly an hour apart, he said, “making me into a bad guy” rather than showing the calming remarks he claims he made.
Trump said he has not yet spoken with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer but intends to call him over the weekend. He added that Starmer, with whom he maintains a positive relationship, was “very embarrassed” by the situation.
In the U.K., the fallout has spilled into parliament. Culture Minister Lisa Nandy called the BBC’s apology “right and necessary,” while Starmer urged the broadcaster to “get its house in order,” defending the need for a strong and impartial public broadcaster in an era of rampant misinformation.
At the same time, former media minister John Whittingdale warned that there would be “real anger” if licence fee–funded resources were used to settle any damages in a potential lawsuit.
Founded in 1922 and funded largely through a compulsory licence fee, the BBC now faces heightened scrutiny over its editorial standards, and the looming possibility of an unprecedented legal battle with a sitting U.S. president.
Source: Reuters
Written By Rodney Mbua
