President Donald Trump has announced plans to file a significant lawsuit against the BBC, accusing the broadcaster of presenting “fake news” about his statements. In a conversation in the Oval Office, he suggested that the BBC had manipulated his words, claiming, “They literally put words in my mouth,” and hinted at their use of AI in the process. He expressed disbelief that even the media would stand by such actions and mentioned that misquotes related to the events of January 6th were particularly egregious. Trump stated the lawsuit would likely be filed later today or by tomorrow morning.
As of now, the BBC has not provided a response to the request for comment.
The tension stems from a report in the Telegraph that included excerpts from a whistleblower’s document created by Michael Prescott, a communications advisor for the BBC. The document revealed that a Panorama documentary aired by the BBC last year had misleading edits of Trump’s words from a rally related to the 2020 election results. It notably omitted his call for supporters to protest “peacefully” while presenting edited clips that suggested he incited violence.
In the documentary, Trump remarked, “I’m going to walk to the Capitol, and I’m going to be with you, and we’re going to fight — we’re going to fight like hell.” However, he did actually say, “We’re going to walk to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer for our brave senators and congressmen and women,” followed by urging supporters to “fight like hell” for election integrity about 54 minutes later.
The BBC had previously apologized for the editing mistake and stated that the program has been removed from its platform. Still, they asserted that they disagree with Trump’s defamation claims. This incident has reportedly led to the resignations of BBC News CEO Deborah Turness and Director General Tim Davie.
