US President Donald Trump is threatening a lawsuit against the BBC over the editing of his speech on January 6, 2021. This is reported by POLITICO, according to UNN.
Donald Trump threatened on Monday to sue the BBC for $1 billion, deepening the crisis at Britain's main public broadcaster over its coverage of his administration. The move came a day after the unexpected resignation of the broadcaster's director-general and its highest-ranking news executive.
Both came under fire for their coverage of the US president's remarks on January 6, 2021 – the day rioters stormed the US Capitol.
A BBC spokesperson said: "We will consider the letter and respond directly in due course."
BBC Director-General Tim Davie and News Executive Director Deborah Turness announced their resignations on Sunday evening, triggering an unprecedented leadership crisis at the BBC after a week of heated headlines questioning the broadcaster's political impartiality and a series of direct attacks from right-wing British politicians, as well as Trump's own team.
In a letter from Trump's legal team, obtained by POLITICO, the BBC is given until 5 p.m. EST (10 p.m. UK time) this Friday, November 14, to "retract" any "false, defamatory, disparaging, and inflammatory statements" about him, and accuses the broadcaster of causing "significant financial and reputational damage" to the president.
The letter states that failure to comply with this demand would mean Trump "will have no choice but to defend his legal and equitable rights, which are solely his prerogative and not subject to waiver, including by filing a lawsuit for damages of at least $1 billion."
A Trump team spokesperson said: "The BBC has disgraced President Trump by deliberately and fraudulently editing its documentary to try to interfere with the presidential election. President Trump will continue to hold accountable those who spread lies, deception, and fake news."
The latest BBC scandal erupted last week when the Telegraph newspaper published an internal memo written by Michael Prescott, a former BBC standards adviser, highlighting a number of alleged shortcomings in its content. These included coverage of transgender issues, the war in Gaza, and the Trump presidency.
The most outrageous claim was that footage from the "Panorama" show was selectively edited to falsely imply that the US president told his supporters in January 2021: "We're going to the Capitol, and I'll be there with you, and we're going to fight. We're going to fight like hell."
As it turned out, these words were taken from parts of the speech with almost an hour between them, and the part where Trump said he wanted his supporters to "peacefully and patriotically make their voices heard" was omitted.
Recall,
BBC Director-General Tim Davie and News Director Deborah Turness resigned over a scandal involving the falsification of US President Donald Trump's speech.