Trump says he will sue the BBC for defamation ‘today or tomorrow’ over Panorama edit
· Yahoo NewsDonald Trump has said that he will file a defamation lawsuit against the BBC “today or tomorrow” over the editing of a 6 January 2021 speech broadcast by Panorama.
Speaking to reporters in Washington DC on Monday, the US president accused the broadcaster of “putting terrible words in my mouth that I didn’t say” and suggested they “may have used AI”.
The programme, aired just a week prior to the 2024 US election results, is accused of misleadingly editing a speech Mr Trump delivered on 6 January 2021.
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It spliced two distinct clips, creating the impression that Mr Trump instructed the crowd: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol … and I’ll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell.”
The controversy, first revealed by the Telegraph, led to the resignations of two senior BBC executives and a non-executive board member.
The president said: “In a little while, you’ll be seeing I’m suing the BBC for putting words in my mouth. Literally, they put words in my mouth. They had me saying things I never said.
“They actually have me speaking with words that I never said, and they got caught because I believe somebody at the BBC said this is so bad, it has to be reported. Let’s call [it] fake news. So we’ll be filing that suit probably this afternoon or tomorrow morning.”
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The threat of legal action followed the leak of a document written by Michael Prescott, the former independent external adviser to the BBC’s editorial guidelines and standards committee.
The report made accusations of several instances of bias at the organisation, including the doctored Panorama episode.
The leak of the report prompted Trump to threaten the BBC with a £5 billion lawsuit and triggered the resignations of the director general, Tim Davie, and BBC News chief executive, Deborah Turness.
BBC chair Samir Shah apologised for an “error of judgement”, but said there was no basis for a defamation case.
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In an email to staff, Mr Shah said: “There is a lot being written, said and speculated upon about the possibility of legal action, including potential costs or settlements.
“In all this we are, of course, acutely aware of the privilege of our funding and the need to protect our licence fee payers, the British public.
“I want to be very clear with you – our position has not changed. There is no basis for a defamation case and we are determined to fight this.”
In a legal filing from November, Mr Trump’s lawyers wrote: “Due to their salacious nature, the fabricated statements that were aired by the BBC have been widely disseminated throughout various digital mediums, which have reached tens of millions of people worldwide.
“Consequently, the BBC has caused President Trump to suffer overwhelming financial and reputational harm.”