US president’s lawyers demand apology and compensation
The BBC has been threatened with a $1bn (£760m) lawsuit by lawyers acting for Donald Trump, in which the broadcaster is accused of making “false, defamatory, disparaging and inflammatory statements” about the US president.
The action relates to the editing of the Panorama documentary Trump: A Second Chance? that featured his January 6 2021 speech, for which BBC chair Samir Shah apologised earlier today.
The controversy, which formed part of a leaked dossier by former editorial advisor Michael Prescott last week, has already played into the departures of director general Tim Davie and BBC News chief Deborah Turness yesterday evening (9 November).
Shah admitted there had been an “error in judgement” over the editing of two parts of Trump’s speeches in the programme, which aired in October 2024.
But Trump’s lawyer, Alejandro Brito, wrote to Shah and BBC lawyer Sarah Jones and pointed to “overwhelming reputational and financial harm” caused to the US president.
The letter goes on to call for a “full and fair” retraction of the Panorama programme, with the BBC given until Friday at 5pm ET to respond.
Trump’s lawyers said the retraction needed to be made in “as conspicuous a manner as they were originally published”, along with “an apology for the false, defamatory, disparaging, misleading, and inflammatory statements about President Trump”.
It also calls for the US president to be “appropriately” compensated “for the harm caused”.
The letter concludes that if the BBC does not comply by its given deadline, Trump “will be left with no alternative” to file legal action for no less than $1bn in damages.
“The BBC is on notice,” Brito wrote. “Please govern yourself accordingly.”
The BBC had earlier confirmed receiving the letter and said it would be reviewed and responded to “in due course”.
Trump has previously won a $16m settlement from then Paramount Global in relation to an edited CBS interview with vice-president Kamala Harris, and secured $15m from ABC regarding comments made on its This Week programme.
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