The president of the United States, Donald Trump, filed a $10 billion lawsuit on Monday against the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), which he accuses of defamation and election interference for broadcasting a Panorama documentary in 2024 that deliberately manipulated his statements prior to the January 6, 2021, incidents at the Capitol.
The lawsuit was filed in the Federal Court for the Southern District of Florida and names both BBC and BBC Studios Productions as defendants. Trump is seeking $5 billion for defamation and another $5 billion for violations of Florida's Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, and has requested a jury trial. The president is acting in a personal capacity and is represented by attorneys Alejandro Brito, Edward Paltzik, and Daniel Epstein.
According to the complaint, BBC intentionally, maliciously, and deceptively edited a speech delivered by Trump on January 6, 2021, omitting his explicit call for peaceful protest and combining statements made nearly an hour apart. The result was to falsely present the then-president as someone inciting violence.
The documentary showed Trump saying: "We're going to walk to the Capitol... and fight like hell," without clarifying that the call to "fight" occurred 54 minutes later or that he had previously urged his supporters to protest "peacefully and patriotically." According to the president's legal team, this editing substantially altered the original meaning of his words.
A spokesperson for Trump's attorneys stated that BBC acted with the intent to damage his reputation and to influence the 2024 electoral process. "BBC, which was once respected, used deceptive methods to promote a political agenda and discredit the president," he said in statements.
