Trump files $10 billion 'Panorama' lawsuit against BBC

U.S. President Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit against the British broadcaster BBC over editing in a "Panorama" documentary that featured his speech prior to the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot. In the lawsuit filed with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Trump is seeking a total of $10 billion in damages—$5 billion for defamation and $5 billion for violations of Florida's Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.

ALLEGATIONS OF "FALSE AND MALICIOUS DEPICTION"

In the 33-page complaint prepared by Trump's legal team, it is argued that the BBC published a "false, defamatory, deceptive, disparaging, provocative, and malicious depiction of U.S. President Trump." The complaint states that the Panorama documentary, titled "Trump: A Second Chance?", was edited in a way that made it appear as though Trump was calling on his supporters to attack the U.S. Capitol during his speech in front of the White House on January 6, 2021.

CLAIM THAT THE SPEECH WAS DISTORTED

According to the legal team, the documentary created the impression that President Trump said the following sequence of words consecutively: "We're going to walk down to the Capitol, and I'll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell, and if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore." The complaint asserts that "President Trump never said this sequence of words," and alleges that parts of the speech where Trump called for peaceful protest were deliberately removed.

"WORDS SPOKEN 55 MINUTES LATER WERE COMBINED"

The lawsuit emphasizes that the phrase "And we fight" was spoken approximately 55 minutes after Trump's remark, "I'll be there with you." It is noted that these two separate segments were combined through editing, thereby altering the meaning of the speech.

U.S. COURTS CITED AS HAVING JURISDICTION

The Trump camp argued that because BBC content is accessible in the U.S. via the subscription-based platform BritBox, this grants U.S. courts jurisdiction over the matter.

TRUMP: "THEY MADE IT LOOK LIKE I SAID THINGS I DID NOT SAY"

In a statement from the Oval Office early Monday, Trump said, "Regarding January 6, they made it look like I said things I did not say. They didn't mention my calls for patriotism and good intentions; instead, they made up very bad words," adding that he had filed the lawsuit against the BBC for this reason.

BBC HAD ADMITTED THE ERROR

In a statement released by the BBC last month, it was announced that Chairman of the Board Samir Shah had sent a personal letter to the White House acknowledging that the editing in the Panorama documentary was flawed. The statement expressed that Shah and the institution were sorry for the way Trump's speech had been edited.

HIGH-LEVEL RESIGNATIONS FOLLOWED

Following the controversy surrounding the documentary, BBC Director-General Tim Davie and Director of News Deborah Turness resigned from their posts on November 9. Davie cited as reasons for his resignation "the editing scandal that emerged from the Panorama program, where different parts of Trump's speech were cut to make it appear as though he said something he did not actually say, the process of renewing the BBC's royal charter in 2027, and the exhausting nature of the role."

LEAKED CORRESPONDENCE ESCALATED THE CRISIS

The leaking and subsequent publication of an old internal BBC communication by "The Telegraph" newspaper further fueled the controversy. The correspondence pointed out that Trump's speech on January 6, 2021, was edited in the Panorama documentary to give the impression that he was calling on people to occupy the U.S. Capitol.

While the documentary showed Trump saying, "We're going to walk down to the Capitol, and I'll be there with you. We're going to fight like hell. If you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore," it was revealed that the phrase "We're going to fight like hell" was taken from approximately 54 minutes later in the speech and added to the preceding sentences, thereby distorting the meaning.