Trump says he has 'obligation' to sue BBC over speech edit
President Donald Trump has said he has a right
to sue the BBC becaUSe a portion of his speech was edited in a Panorama documentary. His 6 January 2021 address had been butchered
and the way it was delivered had defrauded
viewers, according to Fox News. It's the first time Trump has publicly discussed the matter since his lawyers told the BBC that unless the company issues a retraction, apologizes, and compensates him.
a BBC spokesperson said.We are reviewing the letter and will respond promptly in due course,
error of judgement" over the edit.Samir Shah, the BBC's chair, has previously apologized for a
The president was asked if he would go forward with the trial on Fox News' The Ingraham Angle on Tuesday evening, answering
They really modified my January 6 speech, which was a beautiful speech, but they made it sound more modern.well, I guess I must, not because they defrauded the public, and they've confirmed it.
Well, I think I have the right to do it because you can't get people, but you can’t encourage people to do that.And they actually changed it. What they did was rather incredible.
fully and fair retractionThe Fox News interview was taped on Monday, but Fox News did not have the section on the BBC until late Tuesday evening in the United States, but it was not released until late on Tuesday evening. On Sunday, Trump's lawyers sent the BBC a letter. It wants a
of the film, as an apology, and that the BBCappropriately compensate President Trump for the harm caused. On Friday, the corporation has a deadline of 22:00 GMT (17:00 EST) for responses. According to the BBC, it will respond in due course. The BBC News has contacted the BBC to ask the president's latest remarks on the president. If Trump sues in Florida, he'd also need to make sure the BBC Panorama documentary was available there. There is no evidence so far to indicate that it has not been seen in the United States.
Since returning to the White House, Trump has issued legal threats against other media outlets for covering his coverage of him. Since receiving substantial compensation, he has decided to take court action against the New York Times. The BBC edited appeared in a Panorama documentary that aired days before the US presidential election in November 2024, but only after a leaked internal BBC memo was released by the Daily Telegraph newspaper last week, did it spark significant public attention. In the memo, a former independent adviser to the BBC's editorial standards committee expressed doubt that a portion of the speech had been edited in a way that implied the president explicitly encouraged the January 2021 riot.
Trump said.We're going to walk down to the Capitol, and we're about to celebrate our brave senators, congressmen, and women,
We're going to walk down to the Capitol. and I'll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell.However, two sections of the speech that were more than 50 minutes apart were spliced together in the Panorama edit. He was shown saying,
Tim Davie, the BBC's director general, and head of news Deborah Turness resigned after the fallout caused the BBC and head general Tim David to resign Both senior executives have retaliated against critics who have claimed that the episode has raised concerns about impartiality at the BBC.
Davie said during an internal all-staff meeting on Tuesday,We've made some mistakes that have cost us, but we'll fight,
difficult times,this story will not be limited to our enemies, it's our story. The BBC went through
matter for the BBC,he said, but it does good work, and that speaks louder than any newspaper or any weaponization. During their address to employees on Tuesday, neither Davie nor the BBC chair mentioned Trump's legal danger. This was a
Downing Street said.It is obviously not for the government to comment on any pending legal issues,
renew its mission for the modern agethe prime minister's official spokesperson said. The row comes at a time for the BBC, with its royal charter - which underpins its governance and funding arrangements - set to expire at the end of 2027. The terms of its renewal will be controlled by Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy. Negotiations, shetold the Commons,
and guarantee afully accountable
organization.There is a fundamental difference between raising serious questions over editorial deterioration and members of this House launching a sustained attack on the institution itself,
Nandy continued,the BBC is not merely a broadcaster; it is merely an international body that belongs to us all.
unprecedented access to senior figures in the party, but that they should now refuse to film any footage relating to the Trump controversy.The culture select committee is expected to hear from senior BBC experts in the coming weeks, including Shah and board members Sir Robbie Gibb and Caroline Thomson. Michael Prescott, a former editorial standards consultant who wrote the leaked memo that appeared in the Telegraph, will also be allowed to testify. Elsewhere, an internal Reform UK email seen by BBC Newsconfirmed that the party would cease cooperation with a documentary ordered by the broadcaster in the UK's increase. According to the email, the production team had
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