BBC tries to throw out Trump’s $10bn lawsuit
Edited footage on Panorama programme made it seem US president was urging supporters to attack Capitol on Jan 6
Connor Stringer Washington Correspondent
13 January 2026 2:43am GMT
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The BBC will try to have Donald Trump’s $10bn (£7.4bn) defamation lawsuit thrown out of court.
The broadcaster will file a motion to dismiss the case brought by the US president after The Telegraph revealed Panorama had spliced together parts of an address given by Mr Trump on Jan 6 2021.
The clip implied Mr Trump had implored supporters to attack the US Capitol building. In fact, the edit omitted his calls for people to march “peacefully”.
Although the corporation apologised and withdrew the report, it made clear that it would not pay Mr Trump any compensation.
When the broadcaster refused to pay, Mr Trump told The Telegraph that he would launch legal action for up to $5bn (£3.7bn).
He accused the BBC of defamation and violating Florida’s deceptive and unfair trade practices act, seeking $5bn (£3.7bn) in damages for each count.
Mr Trump’s legal filing claimed the doctored speech, broadcast a week before the 2024 election, was designed to interfere with the vote and is in keeping with the “disgraced” corporation’s “Leftist political agenda”.
The BBC’s motion will claim the Florida court, where Mr Trump filed his lawsuit in November, lacks “personal jurisdiction” over the corporation and that the venue is “improper”, documents filed late on Monday evening revealed.
Lawyers for the corporation will argue that since it did not create, produce or broadcast the documentary in Florida, the case should be thrown out.
Mr Trump’s claim that the documentary was available to watch in the United States on the streaming service BritBox is not true, the motion will also argue.
Documents show the BBC will say that the US president has failed to “plausibly allege” it published the documentary with “actual malice”, which public officials are required to prove when filing suits for defamation in the US.
The BBC has asked the court “to stay all other discovery”, meaning that the pre-trial process in which parties gather information would be paused, pending the decision on the motion.
A 2027 trial date has been proposed should the case continue.
Spliced edit sparked crisis
The Telegraph’s Panorama revelations prompted a crisis at the BBC, triggering the resignation of two senior executives.
Tim Davie, the director-general, and Deborah Turness, the chief executive of BBC News, both resigned.
“Thank you to The Telegraph for exposing these corrupt ‘journalists’. These are very dishonest people who tried to step on the scales of a presidential election.
“On top of everything else, they are from a foreign country, one that many consider our number one ally. What a terrible thing for democracy!” the US president wrote on his Truth Social network in November.
Legal experts believe that Mr Trump faces an uphill battle to win a defamation case.
It is much tougher to win a libel case in the US, where concerns about freedom of speech often outweigh other arguments.
View this Telegraph article (UK) CLICK HERE
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