The BBC has stated it has had "no further contact" from Donald Trump's lawyers regarding his threat to sue the corporation. A BBC spokesperson confirmed that their position on the matter remains unchanged.
Trump had previously announced his intention to sue the BBC for between one and five billion dollars, likely next week, following an apology from the broadcaster over the editing of a 2021 speech. The apology was issued because the BBC admitted that splicing a clip of a speech broadcast on Panorama gave the "mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action." The broadcaster called the edit an "error of judgment" but refused to pay financial compensation, despite Trump's lawyers initially threatening a billion-dollar lawsuit unless a retraction and apology were published.
Trump, speaking on GB News, described the situation as "egregious" and felt an "obligation" to sue to prevent similar occurrences. He indicated the lawsuit would likely be filed in the US.
The BBC had previously sent a personal letter of apology from its chairman to the White House and its legal team had communicated with Trump's lawyers. The BBC stated they "strongly disagree there is a basis for a defamation claim." They outlined five arguments in their letter to Trump's legal team, including that the edited Panorama episode was not distributed on US channels, was restricted on iPlayer, did not cause harm as Trump was later re-elected, the edit was not malicious but intended to shorten a speech, it was part of a larger program, and that opinions on political speech are protected under US defamation law.
The editing in question involved splicing two clips to make it appear Trump told a crowd they would "fight like hell" while walking to the Capitol. The BBC will not air that Panorama episode again and has published a retraction.
This incident has led to the resignations of two senior BBC executives.
