Donald Trump Files $10 Billion Lawsuit Against BBC Over Edited Capitol Riot Speech

The BBC lawsuit represents the latest in a series of legal challenges President Trump has initiated against media organizations.

United States President Donald Trump filed a lawsuit on Monday seeking no less than $10 billion from the BBC regarding a documentary that allegedly edited his 2021 address to supporters prior to the US Capitol riot.

The legal action, submitted in Miami's federal court, demands "damages in an amount not less than $5,000,000,000" for each of two counts against the British broadcaster, alleging defamation and violation of Florida's Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.

Earlier on Monday, Trump, 79, had indicated this lawsuit was forthcoming, asserting that the BBC had "put words in my mouth," and even suggesting "they used AI or something."

The documentary in question aired last year before the 2024 election on the BBC's flagship current affairs program "Panorama."

The video merged two separate portions of Trump's January 6, 2021 speech in a manner that made it appear he explicitly encouraged supporters to storm the Capitol, where legislators were certifying Joe Biden's 2020 election victory.

"The formerly respected and now disgraced BBC defamed President Trump by intentionally, maliciously, and deceptively doctoring his speech in a brazen attempt to interfere in the 2024 Presidential Election," stated a spokesperson for Trump's legal team in a statement to AFP.

"The BBC has a long pattern of deceiving its audience in coverage of President Trump, all in service of its own leftist political agenda," the statement continued.

The British Broadcasting Corporation, which reaches audiences well beyond the United Kingdom, experienced significant upheaval last month after media reporting brought renewed attention to the edited clip.

The controversy resulted in the resignation of both the BBC director-general and the organization's senior news executive.

Trump's lawsuit alleges the edited speech in the documentary was "fabricated and aired by the Defendants one week before the 2024 Presidential Election in a brazen attempt to interfere in and influence the Election's outcome to President Trump's detriment."

While the BBC has rejected Trump's claims of legal defamation, BBC chairman Samir Shah has sent Trump a letter of apology.

Shah also informed a UK parliamentary committee last month that the broadcaster should have acknowledged its mistake sooner after the error was disclosed in a memo, subsequently leaked to The Daily Telegraph newspaper.

This BBC lawsuit adds to numerous legal actions Trump has pursued against media companies in recent years, several resulting in multi-million-dollar settlements.