The BBC has announced it will seek to have Donald Trump’s lawsuit thrown out, challenging both the legal basis and the location of the case over how his January 6, 2021 speech was edited in a Panorama documentary.
The US president filed a $5 billion lawsuit in Florida last month, accusing the British broadcaster of defamation and of breaching a trade practices law. He claims the programme wrongly suggested he directly called for violence ahead of the Capitol riot.
In court documents submitted on Monday, the BBC said the Florida court does not have “personal jurisdiction” over the organisation and that the venue is not appropriate for the case. The broadcaster also argues that Trump has failed to present a legally valid claim.
The BBC has already acknowledged that the way the speech was edited created a misleading impression. It apologised to Trump for that error but rejected his demand for financial compensation and denied that the mistake amounted to defamation.
According to the BBC, the Panorama programme was not broadcast in the United States and therefore could not have damaged Trump’s reputation there. The corporation also says Trump has not shown that the documentary caused him any real harm, noting that he went on to win re-election and secured a large majority in Florida after the programme aired.
Trump has claimed the documentary was shown on BritBox, a streaming platform, but the BBC disputes this. It also argues that he cannot prove the programme was made with “actual malice”, a key legal standard in US defamation cases involving public figures.
The disputed clip lasts about 15 seconds in an hour-long documentary that included wide coverage of Trump’s supporters and his campaign. In the original speech on 6 January 2021, Trump first said supporters would walk to the Capitol to “cheer on” lawmakers. Nearly an hour later, he added, “we fight like hell”. The programme edited the two lines together, giving the impression they were said as part of one call to action.
The BBC previously said this edit wrongly suggested Trump directly encouraged violence, but insisted it was a mistake rather than a deliberate attempt to mislead.
The controversy led to major fallout inside the broadcaster after an internal memo was leaked in November. The BBC’s director general, Tim Davie, and its head of news, Deborah Turness, both resigned following criticism of how the programme was handled.
In its latest court filing, the BBC has also asked the judge to pause all evidence-gathering until the motion to dismiss is decided. If the case is allowed to go forward, a provisional trial date in 2027 has been mentioned.
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