Trump sues the BBC for $10 billion

President of the United States Donald Trump he fulfilled his threat to the BBC and filed a suit against the British broadcaster for the amount of many billions of dollars. The suit was filed in a court in the U.S. state of Florida. The amount in question is $10 billion (about EUR 8.5 billion) – 1 to 5 billion was discussed earlier.

Trump announced a suit a period ago. The background of the dispute is the edited version of Trump's speech of 6 January 2021, which the station utilized in the program "Panorama". It was aired shortly before the November 2024 presidential election in which Trump defeated the politician Kamala Harris.

A Republican accuses a well-known presenter of “false, defamatory, misleading, degrading, inciting and malicious” presentation of him in the program. He claims that the station tried to interfere in the U.S. presidential election and affect their result to its disadvantage.

A Controversial Program of Assault on Capitol

For its broadcast, the BBC assembled fragments of various passages of Trump's speech to his supporters. On that January day in the U.S. capital, Washington, there was a violent storm on Capitol, where the election triumph of Trump's then rival politician was to be officially confirmed. Joe Bidena.

Trump – who was removed from power after his first word of office (2017-2021), but inactive held office – reiterated in his speech the frequently disproved claim that he was cheated in the election. After the speech, Trump supporters stormed the Capitol.

In consequence to Trump's criticism, the BBC admitted mistakes. The transmission inadvertently created the impression that it was one, continuous speech. This may have implied that Trump was straight calling for violence. The broadcaster besides apologized to him. This incidental was considered a key reason for the resignation of the BBC Director-General Tim Davi (58) and news editors Deborah Turnness (58).

In Trump's lawsuit, he accuses the network of omitting a key passage of his speech in order to deliberately overturn the statements in it.

BBC: No grounds for defamation lawsuit

Trump's legal squad threatened the BBC in a letter that he would file a suit if the broadcaster did not apologize, would not retreat the program and would not pay the compensation. The BBC confirmed that the program would no longer air. However, the broadcaster refused to pay compensation, arguing that there was no reason to file a defamation suit.

It's not the first time the president of the United States has taken action against media he doesn't like. Since the beginning of his second word in January, he has not only tightened his rhetoric towards journalists, but has besides repeatedly resorted to legal measures and attempted to discredit or completely cover up reports about him and about his administration.

Trump repeatedly cites the "fake news" distributed by reputable media. He besides frequently offends journalists erstwhile asked questions that he dislikes.

Attack on press freedom

One of Trump's tactics is to bomb the media with lawsuits – as in the case of CBS and ABC, for example. In both cases, the parties made settlements worth millions of dollars, avoiding the same trial. Critics see Trump's lawsuits as intentional attempts to intimidate and attack press freedom.

Trump besides sued the "New York Times". He accuses the paper of defaming him before the 2024 presidential election and demands billions of dollars in damages. The paper stated that the suit was legally unfounded and alternatively an effort to restrict independent journalism.