Donald Trump’s legal team has sent a letter to the BBC threatening to sue the UK public broadcaster for $1 billion (€865 million) unless it retracts a Panorama documentary. Lawyers for Trump said the broadcaster must issue a full and fair retraction by November 14 — or face a lawsuit for “no less” than $1 billion.
The demand follows the resignations of BBC Director-General Tim Davie and News Chief Executive Deborah Turness, who stepped down after allegations that the Panorama film misled viewers by splicing two separate excerpts from a single Trump speech to give the impression he was inciting the January 6 Capitol riot.
A representative for Trump’s legal team confirmed the letter and accused the BBC of “defaming” the president, adding that Trump “will continue to hold accountable those who traffic in lies, deception, and fake news.” The legal team insisted on a formal retraction by the stated deadline.
The BBC said it would review the correspondence and respond in due course. BBC Chairman Samir Shah apologised for what he described as an “error of judgment” in the programme, titled “Trump: A Second Chance?,” and acknowledged that the way the speech was edited “did give the impression of a direct call for violent action.” He rejected assertions that the broadcaster’s news output suffered from systemic bias.
Pressure on BBC management intensified after the Daily Telegraph published excerpts from an internal dossier criticising the Panorama edit. The programme juxtaposed lines from different parts of Trump’s January 6, 2021 speech — including “we’re going to walk down to the Capitol” and “we will fight like hell” — and the leaked dossier labelled the edit “completely misleading,” saying it pointed to “serious and systemic problems” with impartiality.
A spokesperson for Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the government does not view the BBC as institutionally biased or corrupt and expressed support for the corporation, while acknowledging that mistakes had been made and noting that senior executives had accepted responsibility.
Trump has previously filed defamation suits against US media outlets, including ABC, CBS and The New York Times.
Edited by: Dmytro Hubenko