The President of the United States filed a lawsuit against the news network and stated that he will seek a jury trial
The controversy escalated after the publication of a report in The Telegraph, based on a dossier prepared by an internal whistleblower hired by BBC itself to assess its editorial standards.
The report concluded that the documentary committed a serious violation of journalistic ethics. Under pressure, BBC withdrew the program from its platforms and issued a public apology, although it denied that there are legal grounds for a defamation lawsuit.
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.
The episode triggered an institutional crisis at the British public broadcaster. The New York Times described the case as "one of the worst crises in BBC's 103-year history." Following the scandal, the director of BBC News, Deborah Turness, and the corporation's director general, Tim Davie., resigned.
In the lawsuit, Trump keeps that the documentary had wide international distribution and caused significant damage to his reputation and his businesses. The document states that his personal brand is valued at tens of billions of dollars and that the "false and malicious" portrayal as a "violent insurrectionist" continues to affect his economic prospects and public image.
The legal action against BBC adds to a series of recent lawsuits and settlements between Trump and major media outlets. In recent months, ABC News and Paramount reached multimillion-dollar settlements with the president, and several technology platforms also solved legal disputes.
