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Donald Trump has sued the BBC for $10bn over a misleading edit of a speech by the US president in a documentary, which he alleges was “fabricated” and defamatory.
The lawsuit, filed on Monday, accuses the UK public broadcaster of publishing “a false, defamatory, deceptive, disparaging, inflammatory, and malicious depiction of President Trump” in a Panorama documentary that aired ahead of the 2024 US general election.
The BBC apologised to Trump last month over the documentary, which suggested he had encouraged his supporters to storm the Capitol building on January 6 2021 as lawmakers ratified his loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 US presidential election.
Trump brought the lawsuit in his personal capacity in a federal court in Florida, suing the BBC for one count of defamation and one count of violating Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. The president is seeking at least $5bn in damages for each count.
The BBC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Last month, the broadcaster said that while it “sincerely regrets the manner in which the video clip was edited, we strongly disagree there is a basis for a defamation claim”.
The lawsuit raises the stakes in the UK broadcaster’s clash with the Trump, which has led to the resignations of BBC director-general Tim Davie and the head of BBC News Deborah Turness.
It also marks the latest complaint filed by the president against a media outlet. He has targeted US groups including CBS over its editing of an interview with Kamala Harris, his Democratic rival in the 2024 election race.
Trump also sued ABC for defamation over on-air comments made by George Stephanopoulos, one of its star anchors.
CBS owner Paramount and ABC have agreed to pay $16mn and $15mn respectively to settle the president’s lawsuits.
The BBC lawsuit centres on the documentary splicing together parts of Trump’s speech in which he told supporters on January 6 2021 to “walk down to the Capitol” and then to “fight like hell”.
Trump had originally said “we’re going to walk down to the Capitol and cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women”.
The president, in Monday’s filing, alleged that the BBC had “intentionally omitted” a part of the speech in which he said: “I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”
The lawsuit can be filed in Florida because the BBC dispatched staff there to gather original footage for the documentary, Trump claims.
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