Trump puts BBC on notice: Retract, apologize for ‘false, defamatory’ documentary or face $1 billion lawsuit
FIRST ON FOX— President Donald Trump is seeking to hold the BBC responsible for "false, defamatory, disparaging, and inflammatory statements," giving the British broadcaster a Friday deadline to make things right or face a $1 billion lawsuit.
The BBC has been engulfed in criticism over a BBC Panorama documentary about Trump’s Jan. 6, 2021, speech that he delivered before the attack on the U.S. Capitol. Critics believe the documentary was wildly misleading because it omitted Trump urging supporters to protest peacefully, and the BBC director-general Tim Davie and BBC News and Current Affairs chief Deborah Turness both stepped down in recent days amid the growing controversy.
Now, Trump is acting, and his litigation counsel sent a scathing notice of intent to bring a civil action lawsuit on Sunday to BBC Chair Samir Shah, along with general counsel Sarah Jones. The letter, which has been obtained by Fox News Digital, demands that "false, defamatory, disparaging, and inflammatory statements" made about Trump must be retracted immediately.
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Trump’s legal team said the statements in the documentary were "fabricated and aired by the BBC," giving the president no choice than to take legal action.
"Failure to comply will leave President Trump with no choice but to pursue any and all legal rights and remedies available to recover damages for the overwhelming financial and reputational harm that the BBC has caused him to suffer, with all rights and remedies being expressly reserved by President Trump," the letter states.
"In the Panorama documentary, titled ‘Trump: A Second Chance,’ which was first broadcast on October 28, 2024—a week before the 2024 United States presidential election—the BBC intentionally sought to completely mislead its viewers by splicing together three separate parts of President Trump’s speech to supporters," the letter continues. "The documentary showed President Trump telling supporters: ‘We’re gonna walk down to the Capitol, and I’ll be there with you and we fight. We fight like hell and if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.’"
According to the letter, Trump actually said, "We’re going to walk down, and I’ll be there with you, we’re going to walk down, we’re going to walk down any one of you but I think right here, we’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women."
The letter, penned by Trump attorney Alejandro Brito, then explained that BBC also edited out Trump saying, "I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard."
Brito accused the BBC of defamation under Florida law.
"Due to their salacious nature, the fabricated statements that were aired by the BBC have been widely disseminated throughout various digital mediums, which have reached tens of millions of people worldwide. Consequently, the BBC has caused President Trump to suffer overwhelming financial and reputational harm," Brito wrote on behalf of Trump.
"Consequently, the BBC lacks any viable defense to the overwhelming reputational and financial harm it has caused President Trump to suffer."
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Trump’s legal team feels "the BBC’s reckless disregard for the truth underscores the actual malice behind the decision to publish the wrongful content, given the plain falsity of the statements."
The president demands "a full and fair retraction of the documentary and any and all other false, defamatory, disparaging, misleading, and inflammatory statements about President Trump in as conspicuous a manner as they were originally published," an immediate apology and compensation.
The BBC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The BBC is already down two key executives because of the saga, and it appears problems could only get worse for the British broadcaster. Also in the letter, Trump’s legal team instructs the BBC not to destroy any documents or data that would be relevant in a potential lawsuit.
"If the BBC does not comply with the above by November 14, 2025, at 5:00 p.m. EST, President Trump will be left with no alternative but to enforce his legal and equitable rights, all of which are expressly reserved and are not waived, including by filing legal action for no less than $1,000,000,000 (One Billion Dollars) in damages. The BBC is on notice," the letter concluded.
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Pressure against Davie had intensified after The Telegraph published excerpts from a whistleblower dossier compiled by Michael Prescott, a communications advisor hired by the BBC to review its editorial standards. The documents criticized some aspects of BBC coverage, including the Trump edit, reporting on transgender issues and alleged anti-Israel bias in the BBC’s Arabic service.
When Turness stepped down, she said the controversy over the Trump documentary "has reached a stage where it is causing damage to the BBC, an institution that I love. As the CEO of BBC News and Current Affairs, the buck stops with me," she added.
Before threatening legal action, Trump reacted to the executives stepping down in a post on Truth Social on Sunday.
"The TOP people in the BBC, including TIM DAVIE, the BOSS, are all quitting/FIRED, because they were caught ‘doctoring’ my very good (PERFECT!) speech of January 6th," the president wrote. "Thank you to The Telegraph for exposing these Corrupt ‘Journalists.’ These are very dishonest people who tried to step on the scales of a Presidential Election. On top of everything else, they are from a Foreign Country, one that many consider our Number One Ally. What a terrible thing for Democracy!"
Trump’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt previously described the BBC as "100% fake news" and a "propaganda machine" in an interview after allegations of bias at the broadcaster surfaced. In an interview with The Telegraph she said, "This purposefully dishonest, selectively edited clip by the BBC is further evidence that they are total, 100% fake news that should no longer be worth the time on the television screens of the great people of the United Kingdom."
Fox News Digital’s Emma Bussey contributed to this report.