US President Donald Trump has said he will take legal action against the BBC over how his speech was edited by Panorama, after the corporation apologized but refused to compensate him.
Speaking to reporters on board Air Force One on Friday evening, Trump said: We'll sue them for anywhere between $1bn [£759m] and $5bn, probably sometime next week.
On Thursday, the BBC said the edit of the 6 January 2021 speech had unintentionally given the mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action and said it would not be broadcast again.
The corporation apologized to the president but said it would not pay financial compensation.
The controversy stems from the way Trump's 6 January 2021 speech was edited by Panorama for a documentary which aired in October 2024. During his address, he told supporters: We're going to walk down to the Capitol, and we're going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women. More than 50 minutes later in the speech, he said: And we fight. We fight like hell. In the Panorama program the clip shows him as saying: We're going to walk down to the Capitol... and I'll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell.
Trump's legal action plans were confirmed after his lawyers threatened a lawsuit against the BBC for $1 billion unless a retraction and compensation were issued. He claims the edit was a deliberate alteration. The BBC's apology came after the corporation faced significant backlash for the editing.
In a separate interview, Trump stated his belief that he had an obligation to pursue legal action to prevent recurrence of such editing practices. Trump's remarks follow internal resignations at the BBC in response to the fallout from the edit.
In its defense, the BBC outlined reasons why it believes there is no basis for a defamation claim, including that its clip did not mislead intentionally and had protective status under US law regarding political speech.
