A federal judge on Tuesday said US President Donald Trump’s $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the BBC over a misleadingly edited clip of a speech can go forward, but threw out Trump’s unfair trade practices claim against the broadcaster.
Trump is suing Britain’s publicly funded broadcaster for at least $10 billion over edited clips of a speech that made it appear he directed supporters to storm the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. The case is one of several Trump has filed against the news media as part of a wider pressure campaign against coverage he dislikes.
US District Judge Jeffrey Kuntz in Florida declined to throw out Trump’s defamation claim against the BBC, saying Trump had plausibly alleged that the broadcaster damaged his reputation and knew or should have known the clip was misleading. Kuntz’s ruling did not decide whether Trump has proven those claims.
Trump called the ruling a “huge victory” in a social media post. “We will continue fighting against, and defeating, all of those who try to deceive the American People!” he wrote.
A BBC spokesperson said the broadcaster was surprised by the decision but respects the court’s authority and remains confident in its position.
The BBC has previously admitted the edits were misleading and apologized to Trump, though it denies being liable for defamation.
Trump accuses BBC of defamation after January 6 speech spliced
Trump’s lawsuit, filed in December in Florida federal court, accuses the BBC of defaming him by splicing together parts of the speech, including one section where he told supporters to march on the Capitol and another where he said “fight like hell.” It omitted a section in which he called for peaceful protest.
The edited speech appeared in a BBC “Panorama” documentary show shortly before the 2024 presidential election, which Trump won. A leaked internal BBC memo cited the edits as evidence of potential political bias, sparking a public relations crisis for the broadcaster and leading to high-level resignations.
