Overview
- President Donald Trump filed a 33-page complaint in federal court in Miami naming the BBC and two BBC Studios units, seeking a jury trial and at least $5 billion per count for defamation and alleged violations of Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.
- The suit targets a 2024 Panorama episode, “Trump: A Second Chance?”, alleging editors spliced parts of his Jan. 6, 2021 remarks nearly 55 minutes apart to suggest he told supporters to walk to the Capitol and to “fight like hell,” while excluding his call to protest peacefully.
- The BBC has apologized for an “error of judgment,” acknowledged the edit created a mistaken impression, retracted the program from future broadcast, and saw director-general Tim Davie and news chief Deborah Turness resign, yet it maintains there is no legal basis for defamation.
- Distribution is a central issue because the documentary aired in the U.K. and was geo‑blocked in the U.S., and legal experts note Trump must prove actual malice as a public figure under U.S. First Amendment law.
- The filing follows a prior apology letter from BBC chair Samir Shah, and the broadcaster has not submitted a new substantive court response, with key issues including jurisdiction, actual malice, and the effect of the U.K.-only broadcast.