Donald Trump, the former president of the United States, has filed a lawsuit against the BBC, accusing the British broadcasting corporation of defamation, as reported by CNBC. He is seeking $5 billion in damages, according to "RBC".
The essence of the lawsuit lies in an edited version of Trump's speech delivered on the day of the Capitol riot by his supporters in January 2021, aired on the Panorama program.
The BBC is accused of creating a "false, defamatory, and malicious image of President Trump" in the documentary. The lawsuit claims that this film represents a "brazen attempt to interfere with the elections and influence their outcome to Trump's detriment".
The lawsuit states that the Panorama documentary misinterprets Trump's phrase where he allegedly calls on his supporters: "We will go to the Capitol, and I will be there with you. And we will fight." According to the lawsuit, Trump never uttered these words, and the phrase "and we will fight" was said much later, nearly 55 minutes after the words "I will be with you".
As reported by The Telegraph, in the film "Trump: A Second Chance?", released last year, different parts of Trump's speech were edited together, creating the illusion of his direct call to the Capitol riots. In the original, he said: "We will go to the Capitol and support our brave senators and congressmen," but in Panorama, the phrases were combined to say: "We will go to the Capitol... and I will go with you. And we will fight."
The Chairman of the BBC Board, Samir Shah, apologized for the incident, noting that the speech was edited to "convey President Trump's message and help Panorama viewers better understand how his words were perceived by supporters and what was happening at that moment".
As a result of the scandal, BBC Director-General Tim Davie and BBC News Chief Deborah Turness resigned.
