BBC to seek dismissal of Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit over documentary editing his Jan 6 remarks
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) will file a motion to dismiss the $10 billion lawsuit brought by President Donald Trump over its 2024 "Panorama" documentary that distorted his Jan. 6 remarks.
Trump sued the BBC for both defamation and for a violation of Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act for $5 billion apiece, seeking $10 billion total. The suit, filed in the Southern District of Florida Federal Court, was filed in a personal capacity and names BBC and BBC Studios Productions as defendants.
The BBC does not believe the court has jurisdiction and that Trump wasn’t damaged by the documentary. Trump’s legal team isn’t backing down despite the BBC’s efforts to get the case dismissed.
"This defamation case arises out of a documentary that Defendants the British Broadcasting Corporation ("the BBC"), BBC Studios Distribution Ltd., and BBC Studios Productions Ltd. did not create in Florida, produce in Florida, or air in Florida," the court filing states.
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"The BBC is liable to President Trump for intentionally and maliciously defaming him by distorting and manipulating his speech. No amount of attempted legal maneuvers can change that fact. President Trump will continue to hold accountable the BBC and all those who traffic in fake news," a spokesman for Trump’s legal team told Fox News Digital.
The BBC has come under intense scrutiny over the documentary about Trump’s Jan. 6, 2021, speech delivered before the riot at the U.S. Capitol. Critics claim the documentary was misleading because it omitted Trump's call for supporters to protest peacefully.
The lawsuit states: "The BBC, faced with overwhelming and justifiable outrage on both sides of the Atlantic, has publicly admitted its staggering breach of journalistic ethics, and apologized, but has made no showing of actual remorse for its wrongdoing nor meaningful institutional changes to prevent future journalistic abuses."
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The BBC previously issued an apology for the erroneous edit and said it had pulled the program from its platforms, but a spokesperson for the broadcaster added, "While the BBC sincerely regrets the manner in which the video clip was edited, we strongly disagree there is a basis for a defamation claim."
The controversy began with a bombshell report from The Telegraph that featured excerpts from a whistleblower dossier compiled by Michael Prescott, a communications advisor hired by the BBC to review its editorial standards.
The whistleblower revealed that a BBC Panorama documentary released last year had a misleading edit of comments Trump made during a rally speech given on Jan. 6, 2021, as he continued to make unsubstantiated claims that the 2020 election was stolen.
The documentary omitted Trump urging his supporters to protest "peacefully" and instead spliced two separate comments made nearly an hour apart, making him appear he was calling for violence.
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"We're gonna walk down to the Capitol. And I'll be there with you. And we fight — we fight like hell," the documentary showed Trump saying.
In reality, Trump said, "We're gonna walk down to the Capitol. And we're gonna cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women, and we're probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them because you'll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong." It wasn't until 54 minutes later that Trump called on his supporters to "fight like hell" for election integrity.
The New York Times referred to the ordeal as "one of the worst crises in its 103-year history" of the BBC. The scandal led to the resignations of BBC News CEO Deborah Turness and BBC director-general Tim Davie.
This is a developing story, more to come…