U.S. President Donald Trump has filed a $5 billion defamation lawsuit against the BBC in Florida, claiming the broadcaster maliciously altered his January 6, 2021 rally speech in a Panorama documentary.
The suit accuses the BBC of libel and breaching U.S. trade laws through deceptive editing.
Last month, the BBC apologised but rejected compensation demands, stating no “basis for a defamation claim” existed.
Trump’s lawyers allege the BBC defamed him by “intentionally, maliciously, and deceptively doctoring his speech”. The BBC has not commented.
The programme aired in the UK before the 2024 election. Trump announced his plans last month: “I think I have to do it… They cheated. They changed the words coming out of my mouth.”
In the speech before the Capitol riot, Trump said: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women.”
“And we fight. We fight like hell.”
Panorama then spliced it to: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol… and I’ll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell.”
The BBC admitted this gave “the mistaken impression” of inciting violence but denied libel grounds. A leaked memo criticised the edit, leading to resignations of director general Tim Davie and news head Deborah Turness.
BBC lawyers countered there was no malice or harm—citing Trump’s re-election—and noted the film was UK-only on iPlayer. Trump points to VPN access in Florida and BBC deals with global distributors.
“The Panorama Documentary’s publicity, coupled with significant increases in VPN usage in Florida since its debut, establishes the immense likelihood that citizens of Florida accessed the Documentary before the BBC had it removed,” the lawsuit said.