Trump threatens to sue BBC for US$1 billion over edited speech, demands retraction
BBC chairman apologises for the ‘error of judgment’ that triggered the resignations of the corporation’s top executive and its head of news
US President Donald Trump has threatened legal action against the BBC over the way a speech he made was edited in a documentary aired by Britain’s national broadcaster.
BBC chairman Samir Shah on Monday apologised for the “error of judgment”, which triggered the resignations of the BBC’s top executive and its head of news.
Director General Tim Davie and news chief Deborah Turness quit Sunday over accusations of bias and misleading editing of a speech Trump delivered on January 6, 2021, before a crowd of his supporters stormed the Capitol in Washington.
The hourlong documentary - titled Trump: A Second Chance? - was broadcast as part of the BBC’s Panorama series days before the 2024 US presidential election. It spliced together three quotes from two sections of the 2021 speech, delivered almost an hour apart, into what appeared to be one quote in which Trump urged supporters to march with him and “fight like hell”.
Among the parts cut out was a section where Trump said he wanted supporters to demonstrate peacefully.