By Gabriel Princewill-
US president Donald Trump has threatened to sue BBC for $1bn if it does not respond within days with a retraction after the broadcaster issued an apology for the disingenuous editing of the president’s words.
In a letter to the Culture, Media and Sport Committee of MPs, BBC chairman Samir Shah said “it would have been better to take more formal action” after it was revealed the corporation edited a Trump speech.
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Shah said Trump’s speech was edited in a way that gave “the impression of a direct call for violent action”.
“The BBC would like to apologise for that error of judgement,” he said.
Trump said he has set the BBC a deadline of 5pm EST (10pm in the UK) on Friday 14 November to “comply”.
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The letter from Trump’s legal team says:
“President Trump will be left with no alternative but to enforce his legal and equitable rights, all of which are expressly reserved and are not waived, including by filing legal action for no less than $1,000,000,000 (One Billion Dollars) in damages. The BBC is on notice.”
Trump’s lawyers are demanding a retraction.
A spokesperson for Trump’s legal team tells NBC: “The BBC defamed President Trump by intentionally and deceitfully editing its documentary in order to try and interfere in the Presidential Election. President Trump will continue to hold accountable those who traffic in lies, deception, and fake news.”
A BBC spokesperson tells NBC News: “We will review the letter and respond directly in due course.”
The White House referred a request for comment to the outside legal team.
The departing CEO of BBC News insisted that the broadcaster is “not institutionally biased” and its journalists are not “corrupt”.
Deborah Turness, who stepped down alongside director general Tim Davie said that while “mistakes are made” there is “no institutional bias” at the BBC.
Ms Turness stepped down alongside director-general Tim Davie on Sunday over accusations the Panorama documentary Trump: A Second Chance? misled viewers by editing a speech the US president gave on January 6 2021.
BBC chairman Samir Shah is expected to apologise on Monday and provide further details to MPs on the editing of the episode, which aired the week before the US elections last year.
The US president himself welcomed the departures and claimed there had been an attempt to “step on the scales of a presidential election”.
It follows a number of controversies at the BBC in recent months, including livestreaming the controversial Bob Vylan Glastonbury set and misconduct allegations surrounding former MasterChef presenter Gregg Wallace.
President Donald Trump reacted with intense public fury to the high-profile resignations rocking the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) this week, launching a scathing attack on the broadcaster. The resignations were directly linked to the revelation that a BBC Panorama report had deceptively edited a key part of his January 6th, 2021, speech.
Donald Trump during the speech on 6 January 2021. Pic: AP
The White House clearly signalled its intent to amplify the row on Friday, when Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt criticized the BBC during an interview with The Daily Telegraph. bluntly labelling the specific clip a “purposefully dishonest, selectively edited” piece of journalism.
Leavitt did not pull any punches, telling the newspaper this single incident provided “further evidence that they are total, 100% fake news that should no longer be worth the time on the television screens of the great people of the United Kingdom.” Following the recent senior departures, Mr. Trump posted a substantial statement on Truth Social, aiming his criticism directly at the highest organizational echelons. He declared: “The TOP people in the BBC, including TIM DAVIE, the BOSS, are all quitting/FIRED, because they were caught ‘doctoring’ my very good (PERFECT!) speech of January 6th.” The aggressive escalation of rhetoric from both the White House and Mr. Trump significantly raises the stakes in the ongoing BBC Trump Editing Scandal.
The core controversy of the BBC Trump Editing Scandal fundamentally centres on a clip aired in a Panorama report just before the US election last year. The Telegraph leaked an internal memo last week confirming the production team had spliced together two distinct parts of the long speech Mr. Trump delivered on January 6th, 2021. That date remains historically significant because it was the day the Capitol building in Washington D.C. was violently stormed by Trump supporters who passionately believed the 2020 election had been stolen.
The BBC aired a specific clip that misleadingly presented two distinct phrases as one continuous thought. This short segment played as: “We’re gonna walk down to the Capitol and I’ll be with you and we fight. We fight like hell and if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not gonna have a country anymore.” The production team spliced the two lines together, deliberately reordered them, and covered the edit point with pictures of the crowd, fundamentally altering the speech’s intended context.
Playing the segment unedited would have revealed the first part stated: “After this, we’re going to walk down—and I’ll be there with you—we’re gonna walk down… we’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave congressmen and women… I know that everyone will soon be marching down to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.” The inflammatory “fight like hell” line, which suggested an aggressive confrontation, actually came almost an hour later, right at the conclusion of his lengthy address. The existence of a legitimate, enduring debate regarding Mr. Trump’s overall role in the events of January 6th does not excuse the broadcaster’s explicit editorial decision to splice and reorder two distinct parts of the president’s speech.
The immediate consequence of the exposed editorial manipulation was a cascade of high-level resignations that plunged the BBC into a major leadership crisis. The most significant departure was that of Tim Davie, the BBC Chairman, whom Trump referred to explicitly as “the BOSS.” Davie’s resignation, along with those of several other senior figures, was driven directly by the pressure following The Telegraph‘s leak of the internal evidence confirming the deceptive editing. This failure forced the broadcaster to face its most severe crisis of impartiality and trust in years. The BBC chairman was also expected to issue an apology to members of Parliament, demonstrating the political heat generated across Westminster by the scandal.
In his furious social media post regarding the BBC Trump Editing Scandal, the former President went on to question the integrity and motivations of those involved in the editorial process. He wrote: “Thank you to The Telegraph for exposing these Corrupt ‘Journalists.’ These are very dishonest people who tried to step on the scales of a Presidential Election.” He further highlighted the international aspect of the controversy, noting: “On top of everything else, they are from a Foreign Country, one that many consider our Number One Ally. What a terrible thing for Democracy!” His reference to the BBC chairman, Tim Davie, underscores the level of personal accountability being demanded by US political figures.
The rioting at the Capitol building unfolded later that afternoon, sparking widespread accusations that Mr. Trump had actively encouraged the ensuing unrest. Throughout the subsequent investigations, the president and his team have always firmly maintained the “fight like hell” comment was purely rhetorical, dismissing the accusations entirely.
Trump’s alleged role in the unrest was the subject of a federal criminal case; however, that case was ultimately dismissed by federal prosecutors following his 2024 election victory. A long-standing policy prohibits the prosecution of sitting presidents. Despite the dismissal, federal prosecutor Jack Smith stated in his final report released last January that he believed enough evidence existed to convict Mr. Trump in a trial, had it occurred. The widespread attention garnered by the deceptive editing confirms the BBC’s editorial failure gifted Mr. Trump a major, sustained talking point in his ongoing, high-stakes feud with the mainstream media.
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