Trump Threatens Legal Action Against BBC Over Panorama Editing

Sat Nov 15 2025 07:43:57 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

Donald Trump announced plans to sue the BBC for up to $5 billion over perceived misrepresentation in a Panorama documentary. The controversy has sparked resignations within the BBC's leadership, while Trump prepares for discussions with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

President Donald Trump has stated he will likely file a lawsuit against the BBC concerning an edited version of his speech featured in a Panorama episode. He suggested the damages could range from $1 billion to $5 billion. This decision follows the BBC's apology regarding the misrepresentation of his remarks related to the January 6 insurrection. The ongoing controversy has already led to significant resignations within the BBC's executive team. Trump plans to confer with Prime Minister Starmer about the dispute.

US President Donald Trump has said he still intends to take legal action against the BBC over how his speech was edited by Panorama.

Speaking to reporters on board Air Force One on Friday evening, Trump said: We'll sue them for anywhere between a billion and $5bn probably sometime next week.

Trump said he would discuss it with UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer over the weekend. The BBC stated the edit of the 6 January 2021 speech gave the mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action.

The BBC apologized, but said it would not pay financial compensation.

Earlier this week, Trump's lawyers threatened to sue the BBC for $1bn in damages unless the corporation issued a retraction, apologized, and compensated him.

Trump's lawyers had given the BBC a deadline of 22:00 GMT (17:00 EST) on Friday 14 November to respond, which it did.

The controversy led to the resignations of BBC director general Tim Davie and head of news Deborah Turness on Sunday.

As of now, public court records indicate that no legal action has been filed by Trump's administration. Federal and state courts in Florida, where a case would likely be filed, are now closed for the weekend.

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