United States President Donald Trump has sued the British Broadcasting Corporation for $10bn, accusing the UK public broadcaster of defamation over an edited documentary that aired footage of his January 6, 2021, speech to supporters ahead of the US Capitol riot.
The lawsuit, filed on Monday at a federal court in Miami, seeks a minimum of $5bn in damages on each of two counts. Trump is accusing the BBC of defamation and violations of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, arguing that the broadcaster distorted his words in a way that falsely portrayed him as inciting violence.
Trump publicly confirmed the legal action earlier in the day, saying the documentary misrepresented what he said.
“I’m suing the BBC for putting words in my mouth, literally… I guess they used AI or something,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “That’s called fake news.”
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According to court filings, Trump claims the BBC selectively edited parts of his January 6 speech, combining his call for supporters to march on the US Capitol with his phrase “Fight like hell,” while excluding remarks in which he urged demonstrators to protest peacefully. His lawyers said the edit gave viewers the impression that Trump made a direct call for violent action.
The lawsuit states that the documentary caused significant reputational and financial damage to the president by portraying him as responsible for the violence that unfolded at the Capitol.
The BBC has already apologised for the edit, admitting it was an error of judgment and acknowledging that the documentary created a misleading impression. However, the broadcaster has maintained that the lawsuit lacks legal merit.
In response to the claims, the BBC has said Trump would need to meet the high legal threshold required under US law, including proving that the edit was knowingly false or made with reckless disregard for the truth.
Despite the apology, Trump argued in his filing that the broadcaster “has made no showing of actual remorse for its wrongdoing nor meaningful institutional changes to prevent future journalistic abuses”.
A spokesman for Trump’s legal team accused the BBC of having “a long pattern of deceiving its audience in coverage of President Trump, all in service of its own leftist political agenda”.
The BBC did not immediately comment after the lawsuit was filed.
The dispute stems from a Panorama documentary aired shortly before the 2024 US presidential election, which sparked a major internal crisis at the BBC and led to the resignations of its two most senior officials.
Trump has pursued similar lawsuits against several media organisations following his return to office. While CBS and ABC have reached settlements with him, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and a newspaper in Iowa have all denied wrongdoing in separate cases filed by the president.