US President Donald Trump said on Friday (Nov 14) he would likely sue the BBC next week for as much as $5 billion (S$6.4 billion) after the British broadcaster admitted it wrongly 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 over the editing of Trump’s speech on Jan 6, 2021, when his supporters stormed the Capitol.
Trump’s lawyers had initially set a Friday deadline for the BBC to retract its documentary or face a lawsuit for “no less” than $1 billion. They also demanded an apology and compensation for what they called “overwhelming reputational and financial harm,” according to a letter seen by Reuters.
The BBC, which has admitted its editing of Trump’s remarks was an “error of judgement,” sent a personal apology to Trump on Thursday but said it would not rebroadcast the documentary and rejected the defamation claim.
“We’ll sue them for anywhere 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 that they cheated,” he said. “They changed the words coming out of my mouth.”
Trump said he had not spoken with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, with whom he has built a solid relationship, about the issue, but that he planned to call him this weekend. He said Starmer had tried to reach him, and was “very embarrassed” by the incident.
The documentary, which aired on the BBC’s flagship “Panorama” news programme, spliced together three video excerpts from Trump’s speech, creating the impression he was inciting the Jan 6, 2021, riot. His lawyers said this was “false and defamatory.”
‘Beyond fake, this is corrupt’
In an interview with British right-leaning TV channel GB News, Trump said the edit was “impossible to believe” and compared it to election interference.
“I made a beautiful statement, and they made it into a not beautiful statement,” he said. “Fake news was a great term, except it’s not strong enough. This is beyond fake, this is corrupt.”
Trump said the BBC’s apology was not enough.
“When you say it’s unintentional, I guess if it’s unintentional, you don’t apologise,” he said. “They clipped together two parts of the speech that were nearly an hour apart. It’s incredible to depict the idea that I had given this aggressive speech which led to riots. One was making me into a bad guy, and the other was a very calming statement.”
BBC apology, no plans to rebroadcast
BBC Chair Samir Shah sent a personal apology on Thursday to the White House and told lawmakers the edit was “an error of judgement.” The following day, British culture minister Lisa Nandy said the apology was “right and necessary.”
The broadcaster said it had no plans to rebroadcast the documentary and was investigating fresh allegations about editing practices that included the speech on another programme, “Newsnight.”
Biggest crisis in decades
The dispute has escalated into the broadcaster’s most serious crisis in decades. Its director general Tim Davie and head of news Deborah Turness quit this week over the controversy amid allegations of bias and editing failures.
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Starmer told parliament on Wednesday he supported a “strong and 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 up there,” he said, pointing to opposition Conservative lawmakers.
“I’m not one of them. In an age of disinformation, the argument for an impartial British news service is stronger than ever.”
The BBC, founded in 1922 and funded mainly by a compulsory licence 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 licence payers’ money covered damages.
Trump says he will likely sue the BBC for up to $6.4 billion over edited speech
