Former U.S. President Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit seeking at least $10 billion in damages from the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), accusing the broadcaster of defamation and election interference over an edited documentary clip of his January 6, 2021 speech.
The lawsuit, filed Monday in a federal court in Miami, seeks damages of no less than $5 billion for each of two claims: defamation and violation of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.
Trump, 79, said earlier in the day that legal action was imminent, alleging that the BBC “put words in my mouth” by editing his speech to supporters ahead of the U.S. Capitol riot. He also suggested the broadcaster may have used artificial intelligence to manipulate the footage.
The case centers on a documentary aired last year on Panorama, the BBC’s flagship current affairs programme, ahead of the 2024 U.S. presidential election. According to the lawsuit, the documentary spliced together two separate portions of Trump’s January 6 speech in a way that made it appear he explicitly encouraged supporters to attack the Capitol, where lawmakers were certifying Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.
In a statement to AFP, a spokesperson for Trump’s legal team accused the BBC of intentionally and maliciously doctoring the speech.
“The formerly respected and now disgraced BBC defamed President Trump by deceptively editing his speech in a brazen attempt to interfere in the 2024 Presidential Election,” the spokesperson said, adding that the broadcaster has shown “a long pattern of deceiving its audience” in its coverage of Trump.
The lawsuit further claims the edited clip was “fabricated and aired one week before the 2024 Presidential Election” with the intent of influencing the outcome against Trump.
The BBC has denied the allegation of legal defamation. However, BBC chairman Samir Shah has sent Trump a letter of apology, and the broadcaster has faced internal fallout over the incident. Last month, renewed attention on the edited clip triggered a scandal that led to the resignation of the BBC’s director-general and its top news executive.
Shah later told a UK parliamentary committee that the BBC should have acted more quickly to acknowledge the error after it was identified in an internal memo, which was subsequently leaked to The Daily Telegraph.
The lawsuit against the BBC adds to a growing list of legal actions Trump has pursued against media organizations in recent years, several of which have resulted in multi-million-dollar settlements.
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