President Donald Trump sued the BBC for $10 billion on Monday evening over the editing in a documentary that the British broadcaster said had left the “mistaken impression” that he called for violent action before the storming of the US Capitol.
In a 46-page lawsuit filed in federal court in Miami, Trump accused the BBC of defaming him and violating Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. He demanded $5 billion for each offense.
In a statement, the President’s legal team said that the lawsuit was designed to hold the British network accountable for what it described as wrongdoing.
“The formerly respected and now disgraced BBC defamed President Trump by intentionally, maliciously and deceptively doctoring his speech in a brazen attempt to interfere in the 2024 presidential election,” the statement said.
Trump said last month that he planned to file a $1 billion suit against the BBC for its 2024 documentary, Trump: A Second Chance? He later told reporters on Air Force One that he planned to sue for as much as $5 billion.
“I think I have to do it,” he said at the time. “They have even admitted that they cheated.”
The BBC documentary was broadcast before last year’s presidential election on the network’s flagship Panorama programme. It received little notice until recently, when The Daily Telegraph, a leading Tory-aligned London newspaper, reported last month that an internal review at the BBC had criticised the way the programme was edited.
In the documentary, Trump is shown speaking to the crowd on the Washington Mall on January 6, 2021. The network spliced two clips of the President speaking about 50 minutes apart, leaving the impression that he was urging people to participate in the riot that later broke out at the Capitol.
New York Times News Service