“They put words in my mouth” — malicious clip sparks sky-high lawsuits! Trump sues BBC for $5 billion

The Zhitong Finance App learned that US President Donald Trump officially filed a defamation lawsuit against the BBC (the BBC) in Miami federal court on Monday evening local time, demanding at least 5 billion US dollars in damages. The civil indictment alleges that the BBC made “false, defamatory, deceptive, derogatory, inflammatory, and malicious edits” of President Trump in a documentary produced by “Panorama.” Previously, the documentary aired one week before the 2024 election.

According to Trump's lawsuit, the production of the documentary was “a blatant attempt to interfere with and influence the US election results to the disadvantage of Trump himself.”

According to the lawsuit, the popular documentary “Trump: Second Chance”, which was broadcast on the BBC's “Panorama” section last year, was maliciously edited to make it look as if it had very clearly urged its supporters to attack the US Capitol during a speech outside the White House on January 6, 2021.

“The “Panorama” documentary falsely depicts President Trump saying to supporters, “We're going to walk to the Capitol, and I'll be with you. And we fight. We fight hard, and if you don't fight hard, you'll never have a country again.” According to the complaint. “However, now we all know that President Trump never said this series of words,” the lawsuit shows.

In fact, according to the lawsuit, the phrase containing the words “and we will fight” was uttered almost 55 minutes after Trump said “I'll be with you.”

BBC Chairman Samir Shah recently apologized for the “misjudgment” of this clip, and the broadcaster's director general and press director have all resigned.

The BBC apologized to Trump on November 13 and promised not to broadcast the documentary nor show it on any of its platforms.

“Although the BBC deeply regrets the manner in which the video clip was maliciously edited, we strongly disagree that there is a basis for filing a defamation claim.” The broadcaster said in a statement on November 13.

Earlier on Monday local time, Trump told reporters at the White House that a formal lawsuit would soon be filed.

“After a while, you'll see that I'm suing the BBC because they put their words in my mouth,” Trump stressed in the interview. “Really, they keep putting words in my mouth. They made me say something I've never said before.”

According to the complaint, “Before the “Panorama” documentary was officially released, some people within the BBC raised concerns about the documentary, but the BBC management ignored these concerns and did not take corrective measures.”

The indictment also alleges that the documentary “is part of the BBC's long-standing pattern of manipulating the content of President Trump's speech and slandering him by presenting content in a misleading and malicious manner, including fabricating calls for violence he has never made.”

Notably, this lawsuit is the latest in a series of defamation complaints and claims against media organizations filed by the US president, known for his love of lawsuits.

Trump filed a $15 billion lawsuit against the “New York Times” in September, accusing the newspaper of being an exclusive “microphone” for the Democratic Party, and has repeatedly maliciously slandered Trump with false news.

Earlier, Trump filed a $20 billion lawsuit against CBS in October 2024 because he claimed that CBS deceptively edited an interview with his then-election opponent Kamala Harris on the “60 Minutes” program.

CBS's parent company, Paramount Skydance, agreed in July to pay $16 million to settle the lawsuit, and the money will be transferred to Trump's future presidential library. The payment comes weeks before the Federal Communications Commission approved a $8 billion merger and acquisition plan between Paramount and Skydance Media; the committee is headed by a Trump-appointed professional.

ABC Television Media previously agreed to pay $15 million to Trump's library in December 2024 to settle a defamation lawsuit relating to a civil jury ruling in a lawsuit brought by anchor George Stephanopoulos who inaccurately described writer E Jane Carroll against Trump.