Trump files $10 billion defamation suit against BBC over January 6 documentary
The US President alleged BBC Panorama spliced his speech to falsely suggest he incited violence, escalating a high-profile legal battle over media accountability and defamation
US President Donald Trump filed a lawsuit on Monday (December 15) seeking USD 10 billion in damages from the BBC, accusing the British broadcaster of defamation as well as deceptive and unfair trade practices.
The 33-page lawsuit accuses the BBC of broadcasting a "false, defamatory, deceptive, disparaging, inflammatory, and malicious depiction of President Trump," calling it "a brazen attempt to interfere in and influence" the 2024 US presidential election.
Also read | BBC bosses Tim Davie, Deborah Turness resign over Trump speech edit row
According to court documents cited by Reuters, Trump is seeking $10 billion in damages, alleging that the BBC “put words in my mouth” by splicing together separate portions of his speech in a Panorama documentary examining the Capitol riots. The lawsuit represents a significant escalation of a dispute that has already triggered senior-level resignations at the BBC and fuelled debate over media accountability and cross-border defamation claims.
In his legal filing, Trump argues that selective editing in the Panorama programme distorted his remarks and created a misleading impression of his role in the events of January 6, 2021. He contends that the documentary implied he encouraged violence, while maintaining that his full speech did not do so.
“They had me saying things that I never said coming out. I guess they used AI or something,” Trump said on Monday, adding: “So we'll be bringing that lawsuit.”
The controversy centres on the BBC Panorama documentary Trump: A Second Chance?, which was broadcast in the UK in October 2024. The programme later came under scrutiny after reporting by The Telegraph alleged that two separate parts of Trump’s speech had been edited together, making it appear as though he delivered a continuous call to action linked to the Capitol riot.
Also read | BBC apologises to Trump over its misleading edit
The BBC subsequently acknowledged that remarks delivered at different points in the speech, some nearly an hour apart, had been combined into a short clip. Critics have argued that the edit excluded Trump’s call for supporters to make their voices heard “patriotically and peacefully.”