US President Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit against the BBC seeking up to $10 billion in damages. The legal action stems from edited clips of a speech that appeared to suggest Trump directed his supporters to storm the US Capitol. Trump alleges that the British broadcaster defamed him by selectively splicing together segments of his January 6, 2021 speech, where he called for his supporters to march on the Capitol and to “fight like hell,” while omitting his call for peaceful protest.
The lawsuit accuses the BBC of defamation and violating a Florida law prohibiting deceptive trade practices. Trump is pursuing $5 billion in damages for each of the two counts in the lawsuit. Although the BBC has apologized to Trump, acknowledging an error in judgment and conceding that the edited clip gave a misleading impression of Trump’s intentions, it maintains that there are no legal grounds for the lawsuit.
British government representative Stephen Kinnock supported the BBC’s apology but advised against legal action. Trump, in his lawsuit filed in a Miami federal court, criticized the BBC for lacking remorse and failing to implement changes to prevent future journalistic misconduct.
The BBC, funded by mandatory TV license fees in the UK, faces potential political ramifications if required to pay damages to Trump. Trump’s legal team accused the BBC of perpetuating a pattern of biased coverage against the former president to advance a leftist political agenda.
Despite the ongoing legal dispute, the BBC has not received further communication from Trump’s lawyers. The broadcaster has stood by its position, emphasizing that it has not made any additional statements following the lawsuit filing.
In the wake of the controversy surrounding the edited clip, the BBC has announced that it will not re-air the documentary on any of its platforms. The fallout from the incident led to the resignations of the BBC’s top executives as the broadcaster grappled with one of the most significant crises in its 103-year history.
Trump’s legal team asserts that the BBC’s actions have caused substantial damage to his reputation and finances. The documentary’s editing practices came under scrutiny following the leak of a memo expressing concerns about potential bias within the broadcaster’s political coverage.
While Trump’s defamation claim against the BBC falls outside the UK’s one-year statute of limitations for such cases, legal experts note that he must demonstrate that the edited clip was false, defamatory, and that the BBC knowingly misled viewers or acted recklessly.
Previous lawsuits against media outlets by Trump, such as CBS and ABC, were settled following his re-election in 2024. Trump has also initiated legal proceedings against other publications, including the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, alleging defamation.
The January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol aimed to disrupt Congress’ certification of Joe Biden’s victory over Trump in the 2020 presidential election.