US President Donald Trump said on Friday he would likely sue the BBC next week for up to $5 billion after the British broadcaster admitted it improperly edited a video of a speech he gave, but insisted there was no legal basis for his claim.
The British Broadcasting Corporation has been plunged into its biggest crisis in decades after two senior leaders resigned following accusations of bias, including editing Trump’s speech on January 6, 2021, when his supporters stormed the Capitol.
Trump’s lawyers had initially set a deadline of Friday for the BBC to retract its documentary or face a lawsuit for “not less” than $1 billion. They also demanded an apology and compensation for what they called “overwhelming reputational and financial damage,” according to a letter seen by Reuters.
The BBC, which admitted the editing of Trump’s comments was an “error of judgement,” sent a personal apology to Trump on Thursday but said it would not broadcast the documentary and rejected the defamation claim.
“We will sue them for between $1 billion and $5 billion, probably sometime next week,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he headed to Florida for the weekend.
“I think I have to do that, I mean, they’ve even admitted to cheating,” he said. “The words that came out of my mouth changed.”
Trump said he had not discussed the issue with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, with whom he has built a strong relationship, but planned to call him this weekend. He said Starmer had tried to contact him and was “very embarrassed” by the incident.
The documentary, which aired on the BBC’s flagship news programme, ‘Panorama’, stitched together three video extracts from Trump’s speech, creating the impression that he was inciting the riots on January 6, 2021. His lawyers said this was “false and defamatory”.
‘Beyond false, this is corrupt’
In an interview with a right-wing British television channel. GB NewsTrump called the edit “impossible to believe” and compared it to election interference.
“I made a beautiful statement and they turned it into a not beautiful statement,” he said. “Fake news was a great term, except it’s not strong enough. This goes beyond being false, it’s corrupt.”
Trump said the BBC’s apology was not enough.
“When you say it wasn’t intentional, I guess if it’s not intentional, you don’t apologize,” he said. “They cut out two parts of the speech that were almost an hour apart. It’s incredible to represent the idea that I had given this aggressive speech that caused a riot. One made me a bad guy and the other was a very calming statement.”
BBC chairman Samir Shah sent a personal apology to the White House on Thursday, telling lawmakers the edit was “an error of judgement.”
The following day, British Culture Minister Lisa Nandy said the apology was “correct and necessary.”
The broadcaster said it had no plans to broadcast the documentary and was investigating new allegations about editing practices that included the speech on another programme, ‘Newsnight’.
The biggest crisis in decades
The dispute has become the station’s most serious crisis in decades.
Its CEO, Tim Davie, and news chief, Deborah Turness, resigned this week over the controversy amid accusations of bias and editing lapses.
Starmer told parliament on Wednesday he supported a “strong, independent BBC” but said the broadcaster must “get its house in order”.
“Some would rather the BBC didn’t exist. Some of them are sitting there,” he said, pointing to opposition Conservative lawmakers.
“I’m not one of them. In an age of misinformation, the case for an impartial British news service is stronger than ever.”
The BBC, founded in 1922 and funded mainly by a compulsory license fee, faces scrutiny over whether public money could be used to settle Trump’s claim.
Former media minister John Whittingdale said there would be “real anger” if license payers’ money covered the damage.
