DID Press: US President Donald Trump has filed a $10 billion lawsuit against BBC, accusing the British broadcaster of “defamatory and deceptive editing” of his January 6, 2021 speech and demanding massive compensation.According to CBS News, the lawsuit was filed on Monday, Dec. 15, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
It includes one count of defamation and one count of violating Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.Trump’s legal team is seeking $5 billion in damages for each claim, totaling $10 billion.Based on the 33-page complaint, the BBC is accused of presenting a “false, misleading, offensive, and damaging” portrayal of Trump in its Panorama documentary by splicing together two separate portions of his speech. The program, which aired about a week before the U.S. presidential election, was edited in a way that allegedly led viewers to believe Trump was inciting his supporters to attack the U.S. Capitol.
Trump’s lawyers argued that the two excerpts used in the documentary were delivered 55 minutes apart and that the BBC deliberately removed sections of the speech in which Trump emphasized that protests should remain “peaceful,” thereby intentionally misleading viewers. They claim the action was carried out with “malice and premeditation.”In the same context, a spokesperson for Trump’s legal team told The Telegraph that BBC had engaged in “deliberate and deceptive manipulation” of the president’s remarks in an effort to interfere in the 2024 U.S. presidential election.
The spokesperson added that the lawsuit would hold the BBC accountable for defamation and irresponsible electoral interference.Trump had previously said that BBC had “put words in his mouth” and attributed statements to him that he never made.Earlier, BBC issued an official apology to Trump, acknowledging that the editing was an “error of judgment,” saying that the program would no longer be broadcast in that format.
However, a BBC spokesperson has maintained that, from a legal standpoint, there is “no basis for a defamation claim.”This lawsuit marks the third legal case Trump has filed against media organizations during his second presidential term. He has previously sued The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.