Trump says he will sue the BBC for up to $5 billion over speech edits
LONDON — President Donald Trump says he will sue the BBC for billions of dollars after the British public broadcaster published a misleading edit of one of his speeches.
The BBC apologized to Trump for the edit, but said it had not defamed him and would not pay him financial compensation. The channel’s general manager and news chief both resigned following the incident.
“We will sue them for between $1 billion and $5 billion, probably next week,” Trump said, speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One Friday evening.
“I think I have to do it,” he added. “They cheated. They changed the words that came out of my mouth.”
The controversy centers on the BBC’s “Panorama” program splicing together two distant moments from Trump’s Jan. 6, 2021, speech — his call for supporters to march to the Capitol and, more than 50 minutes later, his phrase “We’re fighting. We’re fighting like hell” — creating the impression that they were delivered consecutively.
Trump’s lawyers had given the company until Friday to issue a retraction, apologize and agree to pay compensation.
The BBC did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment following Trump’s latest remarks.
The BBC issued a correction on Thursday evening, saying it accepted that the edit “created the erroneous impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action”, and said it would no longer be broadcast.
BBC chairman Samir Shah sent a personal letter to the White House saying he and the corporation were sorry for the editing, a spokesperson said, adding that while the corporation “sincerely regrets the manner in which the music video was edited, we strongly disagree that there is a basis for a defamation claim.”
Tony Hall, director general of the BBC from 2013 to 2020, said on Saturday that the corporation should never agree to pay money to Donald Trump.
“You’re talking about public money,” he said in a BBC interview. “That wouldn’t be appropriate.”
Trump said in an interview Friday that he had an “obligation” to sue the company.
“It’s beyond false. It’s corruption,” he told rival British channel GB News.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Wednesday that the BBC must “put its house in order” when mistakes are made, but expressed support for the channel.
“The BBC must meet the highest standards, be accountable and correct mistakes quickly,” he told the House of Commons. “But I will always stand up for a strong, independent BBC.”
Trump said Friday that he had not raised the issue with Starmer but that the prime minister had asked to speak with him and that he would call the British leader this weekend.
Director-general Tim Davie, along with news chief Deborah Turness, left the BBC last week, saying the scandal was damaging the BBC and “as CEO of BBC News and Current Affairs, the responsibility lies with me”.
Britain’s Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said on Friday there was “real concern” that political appointments to the BBC board had damaged trust in the corporation after a series of scandals, adding that she would examine the issue as part of the next review of the corporation’s charter.
Trump secured lucrative deals against American media companies.
In July, Paramount announced it had settled a lawsuit filed by Trump that accused CBS News’ “60 Minutes” of airing an edited excerpt of an interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris that Trump said improperly affected the 2024 election.
