Donald Trump has vowed to sue the BBC as early as next week, saying he has an “obligation” to pursue legal action after the corporation admitted it had wrongly edited a speech he delivered before the January 6 Capitol riot.
The U.S. president said he would seek “anywhere between $1 billion and $5 billion” in damages, insisting that the BBC’s apology did not go far enough. “I’m not looking to get into lawsuits, but I think I have an obligation to do it. This was so egregious,” he told GB News’ Bev Turner in a combative interview. “If you don’t do it, you don’t stop it from happening again with other people.”
The dispute centres on a Panorama programme that spliced together lines from Trump’s 2021 speech almost an hour apart, creating what the BBC later acknowledged was the “mistaken impression” that he had made a direct call for violent action. The corporation said the edit was an “error of judgment” and wrote to the White House to apologise, but it rejected his demand for a full retraction, compensation and the acceptance of legal liability.
Trump told GB News that the broadcaster had “defrauded the public” and insisted he had no choice but to proceed. “I guess I have to. Why not? They defrauded the public and they’ve admitted it,” he said earlier in the week. He also told the channel that the BBC had made his “beautiful” and “very calming speech” sound “radical”.
Despite the apology sent by BBC chairman Samir Shah, the corporation’s legal team has maintained there is no basis for a defamation claim. A spokesperson said the programme was confined to UK audiences, that the clip was only 12 seconds long within an hour-long broadcast, and that political speech enjoys strong protection under US law.
The fallout has shaken the BBC’s leadership. Director-General Tim Davie and Deborah Turness, the head of BBC News, resigned on Sunday amid what has been described as the corporation’s worst crisis in more than a decade. In a message to staff, Shah acknowledged the “sadness, anger and frustration” within the broadcaster.
Trump’s remarks on GB News went beyond the Panorama row. He attacked London Mayor Sadiq Khan as a “terrible, terrible mayor”, calling him “a disaster” and “a nasty person.” He also claimed that parts of London were “no-go” areas where “the police won’t go” and where Sharia law was being exercised.
The president also criticised the British government for blocking drilling in the North Sea, arguing the UK was “destroying your country with windmills all over the place.”
