The US President has accused the British state broadcaster of defamation and of attempting to influence the 2024 election.
The BBC has petitioned an American court to dismiss a lawsuit initiated by US President Donald Trump. The British state broadcaster contends that its documentary, which featured an edited version of a speech Trump gave during the 2021 Capitol Hill riots, did not cause enough reputational harm to justify a $10 billion defamation claim.
The documentary, broadcast shortly before the US election in November 2024, combined excerpts from Trump’s speech to convey the impression that he was inciting the January 6 riot by instructing supporters he would join them to “fight like hell” at the Capitol. The BBC asserts that it did not sufficiently tarnish Trump’s reputation, given his subsequent re-election.
The US president “cannot plausibly claim that the documentary harmed his reputation,” as he secured re-election following its release, the broadcaster’s legal team asserted in a 34-page document filed with the federal court for the Southern District of Florida. They further contended that the case should be dismissed because the BBC itself never aired the documentary within the US.
“In fact, no third-party distributor aired the documentary in the US,” the court submission stated. Blue Ant Media, which acquired licensing rights to distribute the documentary in “North America,” also asserted that its version did not feature the edited speech, as it was reportedly “cut down.”
The BBC contended that Trump’s legal team failed to demonstrate that it “knowingly intended to create false impression,” and therefore the case “falls well short of the high bar of actual malice.”
Trump initiated his lawsuit in December 2025. He had previously alleged that the BBC sought to influence the 2024 vote with the documentary, which first aired merely a week before the election. He is demanding $5 billion in damages for defamation and an additional $5 billion under Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. His legal team asserted that the selective editing “could never have occurred by accident.”
The controversy surrounding the documentary prompted the resignations of two senior BBC executives – director general Tim Davie and head of news Deborah Turness – amidst concerns regarding the corporation’s impartiality. The broadcaster also issued an apology to Trump in November.