WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� President Donald Trump filed a lawsuit Monday seeking $10 billion in damages from the BBC, accusing the British broadcaster of defamation as well as deceptive and unfair trade practices.
The 33-page lawsuit accuses the BBC of broadcasting a 鈥渇alse, defamatory, deceptive, disparaging, inflammatory, and malicious depiction of President Trump,鈥� calling it 鈥渁 brazen attempt to interfere in and influence鈥� the 2024 U.S. presidential election.
It accused the BBC of 鈥渟plicing together two entirely separate parts of President Trump鈥檚 speech on January 6, 2021鈥� in order to 鈥渋ntentionally misrepresent the meaning of what President Trump said.鈥�
The lawsuit, filed in a Florida court, seeks $5 billion in damages for defamation and $5 billion for unfair trade practices.
The BBC said it would defend the case.
鈥淲e are not going to make further comment on ongoing legal proceedings,鈥� it said in a statement.
The to Trump over the edit of the Jan. 6 speech. But the publicly funded BBC rejected claims it had defamed him, after .
BBC chairman Samir Shah had called it an 鈥渆rror of judgment,鈥� which triggered the resignations of the BBC鈥檚
The speech took place before some of Trump鈥檚 supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol as Congress was poised to certify President-elect Joe Biden鈥檚 victory in the 2020 election that Trump falsely alleged was stolen from him.
The BBC had broadcast the hourlong documentary 鈥� titled 鈥淭rump: A Second Chance?鈥� 鈥� days before the 2024 U.S. presidential election. It spliced together three quotes from two sections of the 2021 speech, delivered almost an hour apart, into what appeared to be one quote in which Trump urged supporters to march with him and 鈥渇ight like hell.鈥� Among the parts cut out was a section where Trump said he wanted supporters to demonstrate peacefully.
Trump said earlier Monday that he was suing the BBC 鈥渇or putting words in my mouth.鈥�
鈥淭hey actually put terrible words in my mouth having to do with Jan. 6 that I didn鈥檛 say, and they鈥檙e beautiful words, that I said, right?鈥� the president said unprompted during an appearance in the Oval Office. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e beautiful words, talking about patriotism and all of the good things that I said. They didn鈥檛 say that, but they put terrible words.鈥�
The president’s lawsuit was filed in Florida. Deadlines to bring the case in British courts expired more than a year ago.
Legal experts have brought up potential challenges to a case in the U.S. given that the documentary was not shown in the country.
The lawsuit alleges that people in the U.S. can watch the BBC’s original content, including the 鈥淧anorama鈥� series, which included the documentary, by using the subscription streaming platform BritBox or a virtual private network service.
The 103-year-old BBC is a national institution funded through an annual license fee of 174.50 pounds ($230) paid by every household that watches live TV or BBC content. Bound by the terms of its charter to be impartial, it typically faces especially intense scrutiny and criticism from both conservatives and liberals.
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