In his lawsuit, Trump's lawyers claim that the BBC violated commercial law by deliberately distorting his statements on the day his supporters stormed the Capitol. The BBC management has not yet commented on the lawsuit situation.
In November, the BBC had already apologized to Trump for editing his speeches but rejected his compensation demands, citing a lack of grounds for defamation claims. At that time, Trump announced his intention to file a lawsuit, telling reporters, "I believe it is necessary. They changed my words." He also sent the company a letter warning of possible legal action.
The scandal surrounding the editing of his words erupted after the publication of a memo by Michael Prescott, a former independent advisor to the BBC's editorial standards committee, in which he mentioned that in one of the Panorama program materials, Trump's words were presented in a way that distorted their meaning.
In his speech on January 6, 2021, Trump stated, "We will go to the Capitol and we will cheer on our brave senators and congressmen." More than 50 minutes later, he added, "And we will fight. Fight like hell." However, in the Panorama program Trump: A Second Chance?, aired last year, his words were edited to say, "We will go to the Capitol... and I will go with you. And we will fight. We will fight like hell." This created the impression that Trump was calling for violent actions, which the BBC later acknowledged.
On November 9, BBC Director-General Tim Davie and BBC News Director Deborah Turness resigned amid this scandal. Before Trump filed the lawsuit, BBC lawyers responded to his accusations, noting that the editing was not done with malicious intent and did not harm Trump, as he won the election shortly after the film aired.
The lawyers also pointed out that the BBC did not have the rights to broadcast the program on American channels and only showed it on its streaming service iPlayer, which is available only in the UK. The lawsuit mentions that residents of Florida could have seen the film via VPN or on the British streaming service BritBox. At the same time, Trump's lawyers claim that the BBC had an agreement with another media corporation that allowed the latter to distribute the film outside the UK. So far, neither the BBC nor this corporation has commented on this claim.
