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Trump sues BBC for defamation, seeks $5 billion in damages

2025-12-16 07:45:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

US President Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit against the BBC over an edit of his January 6, 2021 speech in a Panorama documentary. Trump accused the broadcaster of defamation and violating a trade practices law, according to court documents filed in Florida. He is seeking $5 billion in damages from the BBC.

Trump said last month that he planned to sue the BBC over the documentary, which aired in the UK ahead of the 2024 US election.

"I think I should do it," Trump told reporters of his plans. "They cheated. They changed the words that came out of my mouth."

In his speech on January 6, 2021, before a riot at the US Capitol, Trump told a crowd: "We are going to march to the Capitol and cheer for our brave senators, congressmen and congresswomen."

More than 50 minutes later in the speech, he said, "And we fight. We fight like hell."

On the Panorama program, a clip showed him saying: "We're going to walk to the Capitol... and I'm going to be there with you. And we're going to fight. We're going to fight like hell."

Before Trump filed suit, BBC lawyers had issued a lengthy response to the president's claims. They said there was no malice in the editing and that Trump was not harmed by the program, as he was re-elected shortly after it aired.

In his lawsuit, Trump cites agreements the BBC had with other distributors to show content, specifically one with a third-party media corporation that allegedly had licensing rights to the documentary outside the U.K. The BBC has yet to respond to these allegations, as has the corporation with the alleged distribution agreement.

The lawsuit also claims that people in Florida may have accessed the program using a VPN or by using the streaming service BritBox.

"The publicity of the Panorama Documentary, coupled with the significant increases in VPN usage in Florida since its debut, establishes the strong possibility that Florida citizens accessed the Documentary before the BBC removed it ," the lawsuit said. /CNA