Trump Announces $5 Billion Lawsuit Against BBC

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International Desk: The British media outlet apologized for distorting U.S. President Donald Trump’s speech in a documentary but refused to provide financial compensation. In response, Trump has announced plans to take legal action against the organization.

Speaking to journalists on Air Force One on Friday evening (November 14), Trump said, “We will probably file a lawsuit against them next week, seeking between $10 billion and $50 billion.”

The BBC reported that the editing of Trump’s January 6, 2021 speech unintentionally created the false impression that the President had directly called for violent action.

Although the broadcaster issued an apology, it stated that no financial compensation would be provided. Following the incident, BBC Director-General Tim Davie and Head of News Deborah Turness resigned.

Regarding his legal plans, Trump told reporters, “I think this is something I have to do. They cheated. They changed my words.”

The U.S. President added that he had not raised the issue with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer. However, Starmer expressed a desire to speak with him, and Trump plans to call him over the weekend.

Earlier this week, Trump’s lawyers had warned the BBC that if the broadcaster did not retract the statements, apologize, and provide compensation, a $10 billion lawsuit would follow. However, court records show that no case has yet been filed.

A recorded interview with Trump aired on GB News on Saturday, in which he stated, “I’ve been doing this for a long time, but I’ve never seen anything like this. It’s the most disgraceful. I think it was worse than the CBS and ‘60 Minutes’ Kamala Harris incident.”

In July this year, U.S. media company Paramount Global agreed to pay Trump $16 million to settle a legal dispute related to a former Vice President Kamala Harris interview.

Trump said, “I think it’s my moral duty to do this. If you don’t, it won’t stop this from happening to other people.”

The BBC had issued an apology in 2022, hours after The Daily Telegraph revealed a second, similarly edited clip aired on the ‘Newsnight’ program.

In a statement on Thursday evening, the BBC said that following criticism of the edited speech, the ‘Panorama’ program was reviewed. The statement read, “We acknowledge that our editing unintentionally created the impression that we were showing a single, continuous section of the speech, rather than excerpts from different parts. This created the false impression that President Trump directly called for violence.”

A BBC spokesperson added this week, “While the BBC sincerely regrets the way the video clip was edited, we firmly believe that this does not provide grounds for a defamation case.”