BBC has confirmed it will fight a lawsuit filed by Donald Trump seeking over 5 billion U.S. dollars in damages, stemming from BBC's editing of Trump's words that led to misunderstandings.
On Tuesday, 16 Dec 2025 GMT+7, BBC announced it will contest the lawsuit filed by U.S. President Donald Trump, who is seeking more than 5 billion U.S. dollars in damages over BBC's editing of Trump's January 6, 2021 speech featured in the documentary "Panorama."
According to court documents filed in Florida, Trump accuses BBC of defamation and violating trade laws. Trump's legal team alleges BBC defamed him by "deliberately, maliciously, and falsely distorting his speech."
In November, BBC issued an apology regarding the matter but rejected Trump's claim for damages and disagreed that their actions provided sufficient grounds for a defamation lawsuit.
A BBC spokesperson confirmed they will vigorously defend the case but said, "We will not comment further on ongoing legal proceedings."
In Trump's January 6, 2021 speech, before the U.S. Capitol riot, he told his supporters, "We will walk down to the Capitol, and we will cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women."
Fifty minutes later in the same speech, Trump said, "And we will fight, we will fight like hell."
However, in the "Panorama" documentary produced by BBC, these two parts were edited together to read, "We will walk down to the Capitol... and I will be there with you, and we will fight, we will fight like hell," making it appear as though Trump was encouraging violence at the Capitol.
This incident led to the resignations of Tim Davie, BBC's Director-General, and Deborah Turness, Head of News.
BBC has claimed they had no malicious intent in editing the speech and that Trump was not harmed by the documentary, noting that Trump was re-elected for a second presidential term after the program aired.
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Source:bbc