The lawsuit, filed … In a federal court in Miami, he is seeking “damages in the amount of at least $5 billion” for each of the two charges brought against the British network for alleged defamation and violation of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Practices Act.
Trump, 79, had earlier said the trial was imminent, by claiming that the BBC had “put words” in his mouth when the channel broadcast the audiovisual piece.
Last month, the BBC apologized for giving the impression that Trump had incited “violent action” before his supporters stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
The documentary in question was broadcast last year, ahead of the 2024 election, on the BBC’s flagship current affairs show ‘Panorama’.
The video brought together two separate sections of the speech so that Trump appeared explicitly urged his supporters to attack the Capitol, where lawmakers were certifying Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.
“The previously respected and now discredited BBC defamed President Trump by intentionally, maliciously and misleadingly manipulating his speech in a brazen attempt to interfere in the 2024 presidential election,” a spokesperson for Trump’s legal team said in a statement to AFP.
The British Broadcasting Corporation, whose audience extends well beyond the UK, went through a period of turmoil last month after a newspaper article thrust the edited clip back into the spotlight.
The BBC has denied Trump’s defamation claims, although BBC chairman Samir Shah sent Trump a letter of apology. Shah also assured last month that the network was determined to defend itself against the threat of Trump.
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