Trump sues BBC media company for $10 billion
16 December 13:11
US President Donald Trump has followed through on his threat and filed a $10 billion (€8.5 billion) lawsuit against the British media company BBC. The lawsuit was filed on Monday, December 15, in a court in the US state of Florida, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports citing DW.
The head of the White House announced the lawsuit a month ago. The reason was a dispute over the editing of his speech of January 6, 2021, used by the BBC in the Panorama program. The episode was released shortly before the November 2024 presidential election, in which Trump defeated Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.
The US president accuses the media company of “false, defamatory, misleading, disparaging, inflammatory, and malicious” portrayal of him in the program. According to Trump, the BBC sought to interfere in the presidential election and influence its outcome.
Controversy over the program about the storming of the Capitol
The BBC used fragments from different parts of Trump’s speech to broadcast the program, editing them into a single row. On that day, January 6, 2021, the Capitol was stormed in Washington, D.C., where the results of the 2020 presidential election, won by Trump’s rival Joe Biden, were to be officially approved.
Trump, who at the time still formally held the highest office in the land, repeated in his speech the repeatedly refuted allegations of election fraud. After the speech, his supporters stormed the Congress building.
BBC denies accusations of defamation
The BBC has admitted that the editing of the program may have made it appear as if it was a single fragment of Trump’s speech. This, according to the media company, could have led to the idea that the head of the White House had directly called for violence. The BBC apologized to him. This episode was cited as one of the key reasons for the resignation of BBC Director General Tim Davie and Head of News Deborah Turnes.
In his lawsuit, Trump claims that the media company deliberately excluded an important part of his speech in order to present the statements in a distorted context.
Earlier, the US president’s lawyers sent a letter to the BBC threatening a lawsuit if the media company does not apologize, take the program off the air, and pay compensation. The BBC stated that the program would no longer be broadcast, but refused to pay compensation, pointing out that there were no grounds for a defamation lawsuit.
Trump’s pressure on the media
This is not the first time the US president has taken legal action against the media. Since the start of his second term in January, Trump has escalated his rhetoric against journalists and has repeatedly resorted to legal action in an effort to discredit or limit publications about himself and his administration.
Trump regularly accuses major media outlets of spreading “fake news” and publicly insults journalists for asking uncomfortable questions. One of the tools of pressure, according to critics, has been multibillion-dollar lawsuits.
Previous lawsuits
Previously, Trump filed lawsuits against the American TV channels CBS and ABC. In both cases, the parties entered into settlement agreements for large sums without bringing the case to court. Critics view such actions as attempts to intimidate and threaten press freedom.
In addition, Trump has filed a lawsuit against The New York Times, accusing it of defamation before the 2024 elections and demanding compensation worth billions of dollars. The newspaper called the lawsuit legally untenable and viewed it as an attempt to obstruct independent journalism.
The US president also clashed with media mogul Rupert Murdoch, whose publications have traditionally been friendly to him. Trump is demanding multibillion-dollar compensation from him. The reason for this was a story in The Wall Street Journal about Trump’s possible connection to Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender. It was about an alleged congratulatory letter with explicit content on Epstein’s 50th birthday in 2003, signed by Trump. The US President denies that he is the author of this letter.
