The US president has threatened to sue the broadcaster for up to $5 billion over an edited January 6 documentary
The BBC is “determined to fight” any defamation suit brought by US President Donald Trump, chair Samir Shah said on Monday, as cited by multiple media outlets. Trump earlier accused the British broadcaster of deceptively editing parts of his speech delivered before the Capitol Hill riot.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, the president promised that his team would sue the BBC for “anywhere between $1 billion and $5 billion, probably sometime next week,” despite receiving a formal apology.
This came just days after the BBC apologized for airing a documentary that edited a speech Trump gave shortly before the Capitol Hill riot on January 6, 2021, when his supporters stormed the building during the certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory. The broadcaster had previously admitted that the edit “gave the mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action.”
In a letter to staff seen by local media, Shah said that “there is no basis for a defamation case and we are determined to fight this.”
“We are, of course, acutely aware of the privilege of our funding and the need to protect our license fee payers, the British public,” he said on potential legal and settlement costs.
On Sunday, BBC’s former director general Tony Hall echoed the sentiment, saying the broadcaster should not pay out, given that any settlement would essentially be made with public money.
As the dispute escalated, BBC director general Tim Davie and head of news Deborah Turness resigned. Davie acknowledged that “there have been some mistakes made,” pointing to “the current debate around BBC News,” though he did not directly mention Trump’s criticism.
The broadcaster has also been accused of pro-Israel bias and of dehumanizing Palestinians during the Gaza war.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov suggested last week that attempts to shield the BBC from blame are a ”disgrace,” adding that the British media are waging an “unprofessional and harmful” information campaign.
