Edited Speech: I Have Obligation To Sue BBC, Trump Says

U.S. President Donald Trump has declared that he has an “obligation” to sue the BBC for deliberate distortion of his January 6, 2021, speech in a Panorama documentary.

Speaking on Fox News’s The Ingraham Angle, Trump accused the British broadcaster of “defrauding” the public through a “butchered” edit of his remarks. He said the altered version of his speech made him appear to have incited the Capitol riot.

“They actually changed my January 6 speech, which was a beautiful, very calming speech, and they made it sound radical,” Trump said.

“What they did was incredible. I think I have an obligation to do it [sue], because you can’t allow people to do that.”

It was the first time Trump publicly addressed the controversy since his lawyers sent a formal notice to the BBC threatening a $1bn lawsuit unless the corporation issues a retraction, a public apology, and compensation. The BBC confirmed receipt of the letter and said it would “respond in due course.”

BBC chair Samir Shah earlier apologised for what he described as an “error of judgment” in the edit.

The disputed Panorama documentary, which aired shortly before the 2024 US presidential election, came under scrutiny last week after the Daily Telegraph published a leaked internal memo from a former BBC editorial standards adviser.

The memo alleged that producers had spliced together two sections of Trump’s 2021 speech, delivered more than 50 minutes apart, to make it appear he was urging supporters to “fight like hell” at the Capitol.

In the unedited version, Trump said: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women.”

However, the Panorama version cut and merged clips to suggest he said: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol… and I’ll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell.”

The controversy has sparked a leadership crisis within the BBC, leading to the resignations of Director General Tim Davie and Head of News Deborah Turness.

Both insisted that despite recent “mistakes,” the broadcaster “continues to do good work that speaks louder than any criticism.”

The UK government described the matter as “a question for the BBC,” while Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy told Parliament that the issue shows the need to make the BBC “genuinely accountable” as its royal charter comes up for renewal in 2027.

Meanwhile, Reform UK has pulled out of a planned BBC documentary about the party’s rise, citing the Trump edit controversy as the reason for ending cooperation.

Trump’s lawyers have given the BBC until 22:00 GMT on Friday to retract the documentary or face legal action. If filed in Florida, his lawsuit would need to establish that the Panorama episode was available to viewers in the United States.