‘False, defamatory, disparaging, and inflammatory’: Trump threatens BBC with $1 billion lawsuit
PALM BEACH, Florida – As the head of BBC and its news chief resigned over the weekend amid a firestorm for deceptively editing Donald Trump’s remarks on Jan. 6, 2021, the president wasted no time threatening a $1 billion lawsuit if the network does not retract its “false” and “defamatory” statements by Friday.
Fox News reports the president’s “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.”
Attorneys for Trump said statements by the network’s “Panorama” documentary were “fabricated and aired by the BBC,” leaving him no other option than to seek legal remedy.
“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.
EXCLUSIVE: The BBC is accused of editing a Trump speech to make him seem to back the Capitol riot.
A whistleblower memo says Panorama “completely misled” viewers by cutting key lines
Watch @gordonrayner‘s full breakdown pic.twitter.com/A6nngI44Ll
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) November 3, 2025
“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.'”
Trump’s actual statement was: “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.”
Also edited out, according to the letter, was Trump indicating: “I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”
INSANE: BBC Panorama *edited footage* of Trump’s speech to make it look like he encouraged the Capitol Hill riot.
The Trump hating leftists at the BBC broadcast the programme a week before the US election.
Scrap the licence fee. pic.twitter.com/b40Njc9mIp
— Lee Harris (@addicted2newz) November 3, 2025
The letter was written by Trump attorney Alejandro Brito, who noted: “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.”
“Consequently, the BBC lacks any viable defense to the overwhelming reputational and financial harm it has caused President Trump to suffer.”
Lawyers for the president believe “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.”
Trump is seeking “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,” along with compensation and an immediate apology.
The British Broadcasting Corporation is now examining its options.
“We will review the letter and respond directly in due course,” a BBC spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
As WorldNetDaily reported Sunday, two top officials at the BBC both quit the state-funded, left-leaning media giant Sunday amid fierce pressure after allegedly twisting Trump’s words to make it look like he was inciting a riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
BBC boss Tim Davie, a 20-year veteran at the network who has been in charge for the last five years, resigned after “reflecting on the very intense personal and professional demands of managing this role over many years in these febrile times.”
“Like all public organizations, the BBC is not perfect, and we must always be open, transparent and accountable,” Davie added. “While not being the only reason, the current debate around BBC News has understandably contributed to my decision.”
Also leaving her post is Deborah Turness, the CEO of BBC News.
“The ongoing controversy around the Panorama on President Trump has reached a stage where it is causing damage to the BBC – an institution that I love,” Turness said.
“Bye bye BBC – they turned Trump into a Monster”
Those ‘Conspiracy Theorists’ have been telling you repeatedly that BBC is Fake News – now it’s Official.
The BBC are worse than you can possibly imagine and Conspiracy Theorists remain undefeated batting 153 – 0 right now. pic.twitter.com/QhWGcysag1
— Concerned Citizen (@BGatesIsaPyscho) November 9, 2025
“The buck stops with me,” she added. “While mistakes have been made, I want to be absolutely clear recent allegations that BBC News is institutionally biased are wrong.”
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‘It’s just outright lying’: Top two officials at BBC quit after deceptively editing Trump