Trump threatens to sue the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) for $1 billion

The BBC reported on Monday that US President Donald Trump had sent him a message Threatening legal action For the way his speech was edited into a documentary broadcast by the British station.

Chief Executive of the BBC Tim Davis And his news chief Deborah Torrence They resigned on Sunday Due to accusations of bias and misleading editing of A Speech given by Trump on January 6, 2021Before crowds of supporters stormed the Capitol building in Washington.

This Monday, the head of the BBC, Samir Shah, Sorry for the “error in judgement” The way a documentary edited a speech.

In response to a question about a letter from Trump threatening to take legal action over the incident, the BBC said in a statement on Monday: “We will review the message and respond directly in a timely manner.” He did not provide further details.

US media have provided details about the letter that President Donald Trump’s legal team supposedly sent to the BBC.

In itThe BBC has until Friday 14 November At 22:00 GMT (19 Argentine time) for Completely and duly withdraw the documentary, Otherwise, you face a billion-dollar lawsuit.

The letter read: “If the BBC does not comply with the above by 14 November 2025 at 17:00 EST, President Trump will have no choice but to exercise his legal rightsThese are expressly reserved and non-waivable, including the possibility of filing a lawsuit for damages in the amount of not less than $1 billion. The BBC has been notified.”

Trump had already welcomed the resignation of BBC director-general Tim Davie and head of news Deborah Turness, saying the way his speech was edited was wrong. An attempt to “tip the balance in the presidential elections.”

An hour-long program titled “Trump: A second chance?”It was broadcast as part of the BBC documentary series ‘Panorama’. Days before the US presidential elections For the year 2024.

Three quotes from two sections are joined together From the 2021 speech, He spoke about an hour apartin what appears to be one quote in which Trump urged his followers to do so March with him and “fight everything.” Among the parts that were removed was a section in which Trump asked his followers Demonstrating peacefully.

In his resignation letter to employees, Davey said: “Some mistakes have been made, and as CEO I must take ultimate responsibility.”

Torness said the controversy had damaged the BBC and that he would resign “because the responsibility falls on me.” He also defended the organization’s journalists against accusations of bias.

“Our journalists are hard-working people who strive for impartiality, and I will support their journalism,” he said on Monday. “There is no institutional bias. There are errors, but there is no institutional bias.”

Trump card I posted a link to the Daily Telegraph story About editing the letter on his social media site Al Haqiqa, he thanked the newspaper for “exposing these corrupt journalists.” They are very dishonest people who tried “Tipping the balance in the presidential elections”. He described it as “Terrible thing for democracy!”

White House press secretary Carolyn Leavitt responded to X, posting a screenshot of an article titled “Trump goes to war with BBC ‘fake news'” Plus another message about Davy’s resignation, with the words “shot” and “persecuted.”

Pressure has mounted on senior BBC executives since the right-wing Daily Telegraph newspaper published parts of a dossier compiled by Michael Prescott, who was appointed to advise the BBC on standards and guidelines.

In addition to the Trump edition, the file She criticized the BBC’s coverage of transgender issues It raised concerns Bias against Israel On the Arabic service of the British station.

The “Panorama” episode showed an edited clip of a January 2021 speech in which Trump claimed that the 2020 presidential election had been rigged. Trump is shown saying: “We’re going to march to the Capitol and I’ll be there with you. And we’re going to fight. We’re going to fight with everything.”

According to the video and transcript of Trump’s remarks that day, he said: “I’ll be there with you, we’ll march, we’ll march. Anybody you want, but I think here, we’ll march to the Capitol, and we’ll cheer on our brave senators and congressmen, and some of them we probably won’t cheer on as much.”

“Because our country does not recover with weakness. We must show strength and be strong. We have come to demand that Congress do the right thing and count only legally appointed electors.”

“I know everyone here will soon be marching to the Capitol to make their voices heard peacefully and patriotically.”

Trump used the phrase “fight everything” near the end of his speech, but without referring to the Capitol.

“We will fight with everything,” Trump said. “If we don’t fight with everything, we won’t have a country anymore.”

In a letter to the British Parliament’s Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Shah said the purpose of editing Trump’s words was “Delivering the Speech’s Message.” So that viewers could understand how Trump’s supporters received him and what was happening on the ground.

He explained that the program It did not attract “significant public comment” when it first aired, but has received more than 500 complaints since the Prescott dossier became public.

Shah admitted in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) that “it would have been better if we had acted sooner, but we did not.”

BBC, 103 years He faces greater scrutiny than other broadcasters, And criticism from its business competitors, because it is financed through it Annual license fee of £174.50 ($230) It is paid by all households watching live TV Or any BBC content.

The station is bound by the terms of its charter to be neutral, Critics are quick to point out when they think it has failed. It’s often a political ball: Conservatives They see a leftist tendency In its news production, some liberals accuse it of conservative bias.

also It was criticized from all angles For his coverage of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. In February, the BBC removed a documentary about Gaza from its streaming service after it emerged that the child narrator was the son of an official in the Hamas-led government.

Governments on the left and right have long been accused of this Interfere with the stationwhich is overseen by a board comprising appointees from the BBC and the government.

Some BBC defenders claim that board members appointed under previous Conservative governments were undermining the corporation from within.

Tom Wells, spokesman for Prime Minister Keir Starmer, said the centre-left Labor government supported a “strong, independent BBC” and did not believe the broadcaster was biased.

He added: “But it is important that the BBC works to maintain trust and correct mistakes quickly when they occur.”