This post was originally published on this site.
Donald Trump has sued the BBC for up to $10 billion in damages, accusing the British broadcaster of defamation and of violating a trade practices law. The lawsuit is based on an edit of a speech given by Trump on Jan. 6, 2021 in a documentary that aired ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
According to a complaint filed in Florida on Monday night, Trump alleges that the broadcaster “intentionally, maliciously, and deceptively” edited his speech, which was used in an episode of the BBC‘s Panorama. The president is seeking $5 billion in damages each on two counts. The first count is defamation, while the second count says the BBC violated Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act by allegedly licensing the program outside of the U.K.
The lawsuit suggests that viewers in Florida may have watched the Panorama episode by using a VPN or via streaming service BritBox. “The Panorama Documentary’s publicity, coupled with significant increases in VPN usage in Florida since its debut, establishes the immense likelihood that citizens of Florida accessed the Documentary before the BBC had it removed,” the filing says. According to The Guardian, the episode never aired in the U.S.
The Panorama edit was comprised of two different sections of Trump’s speech, taken from almost an hour apart. The series suggested Trump said, “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol and I’ll be there with you, and we fight. We fight like hell.”
The lawsuit claims that the network 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.”
It also notes, “The BBC, faced with overwhelming and justifiable outrage on both sides of the Atlantic, has publicly admitted its staggering breach of journalistic ethics, and apologized, but has made no showing of actual remorse for its wrongdoing nor meaningful institutional changes to prevent future journalistic abuses. Accordingly, President Trump brings this action for compensatory and punitive damages for the extensive reputational harm inflicted upon him by the defendants.”
Trump initially threatened to sue the BBC last month. He teased the impending lawsuit yesterday, telling reporters at the White House, “In a little while, you’ll be seeing I’m suing the BBC for putting words in my mouth. Literally, they put words in my mouth. They had me saying things that I never said coming out.”
In November, the BBC apologized for the edit and acknowledged the editing was an “error of judgment” after a leaked internal BBC memo criticized how the speech was edited. BBC’s director general, Tim Davie, and its head of news, Deborah Turness, both resigned. The BBC has not addressed the lawsuit, but has covered it as news.
A spokesperson for Trump told The Guardian, “The BBC has a long pattern of deceiving its audience in coverage of President Trump, all in service of its own leftist political agenda. President Trump’s powerhouse lawsuit is holding the BBC accountable for its defamation and reckless election interference just as he has held other fake news mainstream media responsible for their wrongdoing.”
Trump has yet to publicly comment on the lawsuit since its filing.