White House Condemns BBC as 'Fake News' Following Resignations
The White House has launched a stinging attack on the BBC, labelling the corporation 'total, 100% fake news' in the wake of high-level resignations. The dramatic departures came after an internal investigation revealed that a BBC Panorama report had spliced together parts of a speech given by Donald Trump on 6 January 2021.
On Friday, the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, used an interview with The Daily Telegraph to slam the broadcaster. She stated, "This purposefully dishonest, selectively edited clip by the BBC is further evidence that they are total, 100% fake news that should no longer be worth the time on the television screens of the great people of the United Kingdom."
The Edited Clip That Caused a Political Storm
The controversy stems from a Panorama report broadcast just before the US election last year. The programme aired a clip from President Trump's lengthy speech on the day of the storming of the Capitol building in Washington. The clip presented to viewers was: "We're gonna walk down to the Capitol and I'll be with you and we fight. We fight like hell and if you don't fight like hell, you're not gonna have a country anymore."
However, this was not a continuous sentence from the speech. An internal memo, leaked by The Telegraph, revealed that the production team had spliced together two distinct parts of the address, reordered them, and used crowd pictures to hide the edit. The segments used came from sections delivered about an hour apart.
In the original, unedited speech, the context was different. Trump had earlier urged the crowd to "peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard" when marching to the Capitol. The "fight like hell" comment came much later, framed by the former president and his team as a rhetorical device, with accusations that he encouraged the unrest being dismissed.
Trump's Reaction and the Fallout for the BBC
Following the resignations, Donald Trump posted a lengthy statement on his Truth Social platform. He wrote, "The TOP people in the BBC, including TIM DAVIE, the BOSS, are all quitting/FIRED, because they were caught 'doctoring' my very good (PERFECT!) speech of January 6th." He went on to thank The Telegraph for "exposing these Corrupt 'Journalists'" whom he described as "very dishonest people."
This incident has ignited a fresh debate over media ethics and the portrayal of one of the most contentious days in recent American history. While there is ongoing discussion about Mr Trump's role in the events of January 6th, the BBC's editorial decision to edit the speech in this manner has been widely criticised and has led to significant internal consequences for the British broadcaster.
The events of that day were also the subject of a federal criminal case against Mr Trump, which was dismissed following his 2024 election victory due to a policy against prosecuting sitting presidents. However, a final report from federal prosecutor Jack Smith in January last year indicated he believed there was sufficient evidence for a conviction.
