President Donald Trump filed a lawsuit Monday seeking $10 billion in damages from the BBC. Trump is accusing the British broadcaster of defamation, as well as deceptive and unfair trade practices.
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Donald Slams BBC For “Malicious Depiction” Of Him
Donald Trump’s 33-page lawsuit accuses the BBC of broadcasting a “false, defamatory, deceptive, disparaging, inflammatory, and malicious depiction of President Trump.” Additionally, the lawsuit claims the outlet made “a brazen attempt to interfere in and influence” the 2024 U.S. presidential election.
Specifically, it accused the BBC of “splicing together two entirely separate parts of President Trump’s speech on January 6, 2021” in order to “intentionally misrepresent the meaning of what President Trump said.”
Trump filed his suit in a Florida court following threats to do so. Deadlines to bring the case in British courts expired more than a year ago. He is seeking $5 billion in damages for defamation and an additional $5 billion for unfair trade practices.
Donald Trump said earlier Monday that he was suing the BBC “for putting words in my mouth.”
“They actually put terrible words in my mouth having to do with Jan. 6 that I didn’t say, and they’re beautiful words, that I said, right?” the president said unprompted during an appearance in the Oval Office. “They’re beautiful words, talking about patriotism and all of the good things that I said. They didn’t say that, but they put terrible words.”
What Did The BBC Do To The Speech?
Trump’s speech took place before some of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol. At that time, Congress was getting ready to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election, which Trump falsely alleged (and continues to allege) was stolen from him.
Fast-forward to 2024, days before the 2024 U.S. presidential election. The BBC opted to broadcast the hourlong documentary, ‘Trump: A Second Chance?’ As Trump’s lawsuit says, the media outlet spliced together three quotes from two sections of the 2021 speech. Donald had delivered the quotes almost an hour apart, but the documentary made it appear to be one quote. In that edit, Trump urged supporters to march with him and “fight like hell.” Among the parts BBC cut out was a section where Donald said he wanted supporters to demonstrate peacefully.
Broadcaster Plans To Clap Back At Lawsuit
Still, the BBC isn’t going down without a fight! According to the Associated Press, the media outlet said it would defend the case.
“We are not going to make further comment on ongoing legal proceedings,” it said in a statement.
Despite refusal to further comment, this isn’t the first time the BBC has spoken on Donald’s Jan. 6 speech. Last month, the broadcaster apologized to President Trump over the edit of the speech. However, the publicly funded BBC rejected claims it had defamed Donald after he threatened legal action.
Already there’s been some consequence for the speech edit. BBC chairman Samir Shah had called it an “error of judgment.” In response, BBC’s top executive and its head of news resigned.
Can Donald Really Sue The BBC Over Its Content?
According to AP, legal experts have brought up potential challenges to a case in the U.S. given that the documentary was not shown in the country. But, the lawsuit alleges that people in the U.S. can watch the BBC’s original content. That includes the ‘Panorama’ series, which included the documentary. To see the content, Americans can subscribe to the streaming platform BritBox or a virtual private network service.
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Associated Press contributed to this report via AP Newsroom.
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