Former US President Donald Trump has launched a legal threat against the BBC, demanding the broadcaster retract a documentary and pay damages of at least $1 billion. The move comes as two of the BBC's most senior figures have resigned following a leaked internal report.
The $1 Billion Legal Threat
Lawyers representing Donald Trump have sent a letter to the BBC, which was reported by US media outlets. The letter demands that the broadcaster retract a 2024 documentary produced by its flagship programme, Panorama, by Friday or face a lawsuit seeking no less than $1 billion. The BBC has confirmed receipt of the letter and stated it will respond in due course.
The controversy centres on an edit in the documentary concerning Trump's speech on the day of the January 6 insurrection. The programme spliced together two sentences from the speech that were originally 54 minutes apart, creating a sequence where Trump tells supporters to walk to the US Capitol and then to "fight like hell".
Senior Resignations and Internal Pressure
The legal threat coincides with the resignations of the BBC's director general and its News CEO. Their departures came after the right-wing Telegraph newspaper published a leaked internal report. This report, authored by a former BBC standards adviser, alleged significant failings in the broadcaster's coverage.
Trump publicly welcomed these resignations, which mark a peak in a sustained campaign against the UK's public service broadcaster.
Context and Fact-Checking the Edit
While the documentary's edit has been criticised for being misleading, it is crucial to note that the January 6 select committee report found that Trump did repeatedly urge his supporters to fight. The report states that over roughly 50 minutes, Trump "amp[ed] up his crowd with lies about the election, attacking his own vice-president and Republican members of Congress, and exhorting the crowd to fight".
According to analysis from the Guardian's US media correspondent, Jeremy Barr, this legal threat appears to be part of a broader strategy by Trump to keep media institutions that cover him "on their toes".
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