BBC ‘determined to fight’ Trump’s defamation threat over edited Capitol speech, chairman tells staff – Firstpost

Britain’s media giant the BBC has vowed to vigorously oppose any legal action by US President Donald Trump, with its chairman Samir Shah saying on Monday that “the defamation case has no merit”.

Trump has threatened to sue the broadcaster for between $1 billion and $5 billion over the editing of one of his speeches.

The move comes after Trump confirmed on Saturday that he intended to take legal action against the BBC over its Panorama programme, although the broadcaster has issued an apology.

Basis of Trump’s complaint

Trump claimed on Friday that he was likely to be sued for up to $5 billion, arguing that the BBC had stitched together disparate excerpts from his January 6, 2021 speech – when his supporters attacked the Capitol – to create the impression that he incited violence.

The controversial documentary, produced by a third party, was broadcast in Britain ahead of the November 2024 US election. It shows Trump telling supporters, “We’re marching to the Capitol” and “We fight like hell,” comments made in a different part of the speech, where he actually said supporters would be “cheering on our brave senators and congressmen and women.”

BBC apologizes but stands firm

BBC chairman Samir Shah sent a letter to Trump apologizing for the edit but insisting there was no legal basis for the defamation claim. He told employees in an internal email:

“In all this, of course, we are fully aware of the privilege of our funding and the need to protect our license fee payers, the British public. I want to be very clear with you – our position has not changed. There is no basis for the defamation case and we are determined to fight it.”

The edit came after the Daily Telegraph published a leaked internal BBC report, which included widespread criticism of the corporation citing alleged anti-Israel bias in BBC Arabic and a lack of balance in its coverage of trans issues. The report ultimately led to the resignation of director general Tim Davie and head of news Deborah Turnes.

Trump claims reputational and financial losses

Trump’s lawyers have argued that the edits caused him “immense reputational and financial harm,” according to a letter seen by Reuters. They plan to file the suit in Florida, where the one-year statute of limitations for defamation filings in Britain does not apply.

Legal experts say Trump would face a high bar in the US because of constitutional free speech protections. The BBC is expected to argue that the program was not broadcast or available on its US streaming services, meaning Floridian voters could not watch it. It could also challenge claims of reputational harm, given that Trump won the election and the editing was not done maliciously.

Trump promised action

Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Trump said, “We will sue them. We will sue them for between a billion (£792m) and five billion dollars (£3.79bn), probably sometime next week. We have to do it, they’ve even admitted that they cheated. Not that they couldn’t. They cheated. They changed the words coming out of my mouth.”