President Donald Trump has threatened legal action against the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) for its editing of the president’s speech on Jan. 6, 2021, which was presented in a documentary aired one week before last year’s presidential election.
The documentary for Panorama, the BBC’s flagship news program, spliced together quotes from different sections of a 2021 speech delivered nearly an hour apart, making it appear to be one continuous quote in which Trump urged supporters to march with him and “fight like hell.” Among the parts cut out was a section where Trump said he wanted supporters to demonstrate peacefully.
A letter from Trump’s attorney, Alejandro Brito, demands that the BBC immediately retract “the false, defamatory, disparaging, and inflammatory statements,” apologize, and “appropriately compensate President Trump for the harm caused,” or face legal action for $1 billion in damages.
“If the BBC does not comply with the above by November 14, 2025, at 5:00 p.m. EST, President Trump will be left with no alternative but to enforce his legal and equitable rights, all of which are expressly reserved and are not waived, including by filing legal action for no less than $1,000,000,000 (One Billion Dollars) in damages,” the letter states.
A spokesman for Trump’s legal team stated: “The BBC defamed President Trump by intentionally and deceitfully editing its documentary in order to try and interfere in the Presidential Election. President Trump will continue to hold accountable those who traffic in lies, deception, and fake news.”
A BBC spokesperson stated: “We will review the letter and respond directly in due course.”
Concerns over the editing of the footage were raised in a leaked memo, initially reviewed by the UK’s Daily Telegraph newspaper and published last week. The memo was written by Michael Prescott, a former journalist who is now on a committee giving editorial advice to the BBC.
Earlier on Nov. 10, BBC Chairman Samir Shah sent a letter to the UK’s Culture, Media, and Sport Committee (CMSC) apologizing for the “error of judgement” of the editing of the speech. In his letter to CMSC Committee Chairwoman Dame Caroline Dineage, Shah wrote: “We accept that the way the speech was edited did give the impression of a direct call for violent action. The BBC would like to apologise for that error of judgement.”
Shah said that the issue of the way the footage was edited was discussed at the BBC’s Editorial Guidelines and Standards Committee (EGSC) in January 2025 and in May 2025.
He said the issue was discussed as part of a wider review of the BBC’s U.S. election coverage commissioned by the committee, not due to a specific program complaint.
“The points raised in the review were relayed to the Panorama team, including the decision-making on this edit. With hindsight, it would have been better to take more formal action,” he said.
The apology came after the BBC’s director-general, Tim Davie, and the broadcaster’s CEO of news, Deborah Turness, resigned on Nov. 9.
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