Donald Trump responded in this way to the question about whether he would file a lawsuit against the station in an interview for Fox News recorded on Monday, the second part of which was broadcast on Tuesday.
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Why does Trump want to sue the BBC?
What accusations has Trump made against the BBC?
What compensation is Trump demanding from the BBC?
What did Trump think of his January 6 speech?
Trump accuses the BBC of manipulation. “It's pretty amazing”
– I guess I have to, why not? Because they deceived the public and admitted it, and their leadership resigned – and this is one of our great allies, you know, this is our supposedly great ally – Trump said. — But it's quite a sad event. They changed my speech on January 6, which was beautiful, very reassuring, and they made it sound radical and they actually changed it. “What they did was pretty amazing,” he added.
Trump recalled that he had similarly sued CBS for allegedly manipulating an interview with Kamala Harris at the end of the 2024 election campaign. Although many commentators then considered Trump's lawsuit groundless, after he came to power, the television reached a settlement with him, agreeing to pay USD 16 million to his foundation. Thanks to this, the Trump administration approved the takeover of CBS's owner, Paramount Global, by Skydance.
Donald Trump threatens the BBC with a $1 billion lawsuit.
That Trump threatened to file a lawsuit against the BBC and demanded $1 billion. compensation, NBC News reported on Tuesday, citing a letter from the president's lawyers.
“President Trump will have no alternative but to assert his rights and equities, which are expressly reserved and not subject to waiver, by bringing an action for damages in an amount of not less than $1,000,000,000 (one billion dollars),” the letter to the BBC said.
The case concerns the “Panorama” program broadcast a week before the US election vote, which included an edited fragment of Trump's speech on January 6, 2021, giving the impression that he was encouraging his supporters to riot at the Capitol.
The montage conflated his words encouraging his supporters to go to the Capitol with his words from the same rally in which he encouraged them to “fight like hell or they won't have a country anymore.” In fact, Trump urged participants to go to the Capitol to “cheer on the brave senators and congressmen” who the president hoped would vote against certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Doubts about the editing of the material were raised in a 19-page memo by Michael Prescott, a former independent external adviser to the BBC's Editorial Guidance and Standards Committee. This summer, the expert resigned from his position.
Following the disclosure of the memo on Sunday, BBC director-general Tim Davie and executive director of news Deborah Turness resigned. On Monday, BBC chairman Samir Shah admitted that the editing of Trump's remarks was an “error of judgment.” In a statement sent to the committee on culture, media and sports, Shah apologized for the error.
