Trump says he has ‘obligation’ to sue BBC over speech edit
US President Donald Trump said he had an “obligation” to sue the BBC because part of his speech was edited into the Panorama documentary.
Speaking to Fox News, he said his speech on January 6, 2021 was “butchered” and the way it was presented “defrauded” viewers.
Trump is speaking publicly for the first time since his lawyers wrote to the BBC saying they would sue for $1bn (£759m) damages unless the company recanted, apologized and paid him compensation.
BBC chief Samir Shah had previously apologized for an “error of judgment” regarding the edit.
Appearing on Fox News’ The Ingraham Angle, the president was asked if he would proceed with the lawsuit and replied, “I guess I have to, you know, why not, because they defrauded the public and they admitted it.”
Trump continued: “They actually changed my beautiful speech on January 6th, which was a very calming speech and made it sound like a radical speech.
“And they actually changed that. What they did was pretty incredible.”
Asked if he would take legal action again, he said: “I think it’s my responsibility to do that because you can’t take people, you can’t let people do that.”
The BBC received the letter from Trump’s lawyers on Sunday. It demands a “full and fair retraction” of the documentary, an apology and the BBC’s “appropriate compensation for the damage caused to President Trump”.
The company set a deadline of 10pm GMT (5pm EST) on Friday to respond.
The BBC said it would respond in due course.
BBC News has contacted the BBC for comment on the president’s latest comments.
Since returning to the White House, Trump has made legal threats against other media outlets over their reporting about him. After receiving large payouts, he settled with both CBS News and ABC News and attempted to take legal action against the New York Times.
The BBC’s editing was featured in a Panorama documentary broadcast days before the US presidential election in November 2024, but only sparked significant public scrutiny following the publication of a leaked internal BBC memo by the Daily Telegraph newspaper last week.
In the memo, a former independent external adviser to the BBC’s broadcasting standards committee expressed concern that part of the speech was edited to suggest the president had openly encouraged the January 2021 Capitol riot.
Trump actually said: “We will march to the Capitol and support our brave senators, congressmen, and women.”
However, in the Panorama montage he is seen saying: “We’ll march to the Capitol… and I’ll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell.”
Elsewhere in the address, he used the words “quarrel” or “quarrel” a total of 20 times.
This led to the resignation of the BBC’s director general, Tim Davie, and its news director, Deborah Turness.
Both outgoing senior leaders hit out at critics who said the incident raised wider questions about impartiality at the BBC.
Speaking at an internal meeting of all staff on Tuesday, Davie said: “We have made some mistakes that have cost us, but we have to fight on” and added that “this narrative will not just be given by our enemies, this is our story”.
He said the BBC had “had a hard time but it has done a good job and that is more effective than any newspaper, more effective than any armament”.
Neither Davie nor the BBC chief mentioned Trump’s legal threat in their speech to staff on Tuesday.
Downing Street said it was “a matter for the BBC”.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “It is clearly not the government’s role to comment on any ongoing legal matters.” he said.
The debate comes at a sensitive time for the BBC; The royal charter (the agreement supporting management and financing arrangements) will expire at the end of 2027.
Culture Minister Lisa Nandy will oversee talks on the renewal terms. Speaking to the House of Commons on Tuesday, he said these talks would “renew its mission for the modern age” and ensure a “truly accountable” organisation.
Nandy continued: “There is a fundamental difference between raising serious concerns about editorial errors and members of this House launching a sustained attack on the institution itself, because the BBC is not just a broadcaster, it is a national institution that belongs to us all.”
The culture select committee is expected to hear evidence from senior BBC figures, including Shah and board members Sir Robbie Gibb and Caroline Thomson, in the coming weeks.
Former broadcast standards adviser Michael Prescott, the author of the leaked memo in the Telegraph, will also be invited to give evidence.
