Donald Trump has announced his intention to file a lawsuit against the BBC next week, seeking damages between $1 billion and $5 billion. This decision comes despite the BBC having already apologized for a misleading edit of one of his speeches.
Trump's lawyers had previously threatened legal action unless the BBC issued a retraction, apologized, and settled, demanding $1 billion in damages. The BBC acknowledged the misleading edit and agreed not to rebroadcast the specific edition of the Panorama program, which included a spliced clip of Trump's speech.
The program, broadcast shortly before the US election, falsely presented Trump as having said, "We're going to walk down to the capitol and I'll be there with you, and we fight. We fight like hell." The words used were actually taken from different parts of his speech, separated by nearly an hour.
The BBC stated that there is no legal basis for Trump's threatened lawsuit. Trump indicated he would discuss the potential lawsuit with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer over the weekend.
The BBC is currently facing internal turmoil with the resignations of its director general and BBC News chief, following scrutiny over a separate incident last year.
