By Paul Sandle, Sam Tabahriti and Jack Queen
LONDON/NEW YORK (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened legal action against the BBC for its editing of a speech he made in 2021 on the day his supporters overran the Capitol, which the British broadcaster admitted on Monday was an “error of judgement”.
In the letter sent on Sunday and seen by Reuters, the president’s lawyers said the BBC must retract its documentary by Friday or face a lawsuit for “no less” than $1 billion.
The letter also demanded that the BBC issue an apology and compensate Trump for what it said was “overwhelming reputational and financial harm”.
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 January 6, 2021, riot. His lawyers said this was “false and defamatory”.
The BBC also left out parts of the speech in which Trump said he expected his supporters to march “peacefully and patriotically,” the letter said. The supporters backed an effort to prevent Congress from certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s presidential election victory over Trump.
The revelation about the speech and wider criticism of BBC News have plunged the broadcaster into crisis, resulting in the resignations of Director General Tim Davie and Chief Executive of News Deborah Turness on Sunday.
BBC Chair Samir Shah on Monday apologised for the editing of the footage, but he rejected claims of systemic bias in the broadcaster’s reporting.
Shah said the BBC was considering how to respond to the legal threat. A BBC spokesperson said the broadcaster would “respond directly in due course”.
CRISIS SPARKED BY LEAKING OF MEMO BY STANDARDS ADVISER
The crisis was sparked by the leaking of an internal report that raised concerns about the BBC’s coverage, including the edit of the Trump speech, which the BBC broadcast shortly before the November 2024 U.S. presidential election.
A spokesman for Trump’s legal team said in a statement this was an attempt to influence the election. “The BBC defamed President Trump by intentionally and deceitfully editing its documentary in order to try and interfere in the Presidential Election,” he said.
The documentary is no longer available on the BBC’s iPlayer video-on-demand service.
Shah said the BBC accepted that the way the speech was edited gave the impression of a direct call for violence.
“The BBC would like to apologise for that error of judgement,” he said in a letter to lawmakers.
Trump’s lawyers said the BBC violated Florida defamation law by deliberately omitting some facts and deceptively juxtaposing others to create a false impression of what Trump said. Trump’s home is in Florida, and citing Florida law suggested he would file a lawsuit there.
It is typically difficult for public figures like Trump to win defamation cases under U.S. law because they must prove defendants knew or should have known information was false but published it anyway.
In England and Wales, a claimant must show a publication has caused, or is likely to cause, serious harm to their reputation.
Several U.S. media companies, including CBS and ABC News, have recently settled lawsuits filed by the U.S. president. Before settling, the networks called the accusations meritless.
IMPARTIALITY IN BBC’S DNA
At the BBC, Shah said there were cases of individual errors and signs of underlying problems, but the notion of systemic or institutional bias did not hold true.
“I know that BBC News’ DNA and culture is to be impartial. It’s to provide the best news we can and the most trustworthy news”, he said.
The BBC is a publicly funded broadcaster operating under a Royal Charter. Its editorial decisions are independent, but it is accountable to Parliament.
Shah told lawmakers that the BBC was committed to restoring public trust and ensuring its journalism meets the highest standards of fairness.
A spokesperson for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer denied the BBC was institutionally biased or corrupt, and said the government supported the corporation.
“Clearly mistakes have been made in this case and the director general and Deborah Turness have taken responsibility for those mistakes,” the spokesperson said.
“What is important here is that the BBC maintains the high standards for which it is rightfully recognised internationally, and that’s very much our focus.”
On January 6, 2021, Trump spoke to his supporters near the White House amid his effort to overturn the 2020 election.
Trump claims the election was fraudulent, but courts, audits and independent reviews have found no credible evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election.
After Trump’s speech, some supporters marched to the Capitol. Rioters stormed past security, invaded the Senate and House chambers and forced lawmakers to flee in fear. The attack halted certification of the election and resulted in injuries, deaths and extensive damage.
(Additional reporting by Andrew MacAskill, Elizabeth Piper, and Muvija M in London; Jack Queen and Helen Coster in New York; Editing by Frances Kerry and Cynthia Osterman)
