US President Donald Trump on Monday filed a $10 billion lawsuit against the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) over a documentary that allegedly edited his 2021 speech to supporters ahead of the US Capitol riot.
The lawsuit was filed in a federal court in Miami, Florida, seeking damages of not less than $5 billion for each of two counts, citing defamation and violation of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.
Trump, 79, had earlier indicated that legal action against the broadcaster was imminent, claiming the BBC “put words in my mouth” and suggested that artificial intelligence may have been used.
The documentary in question aired last year on the BBC’s flagship current affairs programme, Panorama, before the 2024 US presidential election.
The edited footage combined two separate sections of Trump’s January 6, 2021 speech, creating the impression that he explicitly urged supporters to attack the Capitol, where Congress was certifying Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.
A spokesperson for Trump’s legal team said the broadcaster “defamed President Trump by intentionally, maliciously, and deceptively doctoring his speech in a brazen attempt to interfere in the 2024 Presidential Election.”
The statement added that the BBC “has a long pattern of deceiving its audience in coverage of President Trump, all in service of its own leftist political agenda.”
The BBC, which has a global audience beyond the United Kingdom, faced internal turmoil last month after renewed attention was drawn to the edited clip.
The controversy led to the resignations of the BBC director-general and the organisation’s top news executive.
Trump’s lawsuit alleges that the doctored speech was “fabricated and aired by the Defendants one week before the 2024 Presidential Election in a brazen attempt to interfere in and influence the election’s outcome to President Trump’s detriment.”
The BBC has denied the claims of defamation. However, BBC chairman Samir Shah sent an apology letter to Trump and acknowledged before a UK parliamentary committee that the broadcaster should have acted more swiftly after the error was disclosed in a leaked memo.
The lawsuit adds to a series of legal actions Trump has initiated against media organisations in recent years, some of which have resulted in multi-million-dollar settlements.
