Speaking to reporters on board Air Force One on Friday evening, President Donald Trump said he plans to sue the BBC over how his 6 January 2021 speech was edited in a Panorama documentary.
“We’ll sue them for anywhere between $1bn and $5bn, probably sometime next week,” Trump said. He added, “I think I have to do it. They cheated. They changed the words coming out of my mouth.”
‘We’ll sue them for anywhere between $1 billion and $5 billion, probably sometime next week,’ President Trump said after the BBC said it improperly edited a video of a speech he gave https://t.co/kOiH1I2k37 pic.twitter.com/qC2VjdUrry
— Reuters (@Reuters) November 15, 2025
The controversy began after the BBC admitted that an edit in the Panorama programme gave “the mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action.” The broadcaster apologized and said the clip would not be shown again. It also made clear it would not pay Trump any compensation.
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Trump’s lawyers had threatened the BBC with a $1 billion lawsuit unless it issued a retraction, apology, and compensation. The BBC gave the first two but refused to pay.
As of Friday evening, no lawsuit had been filed in Florida. Still, Trump said he would move forward. He said he had not yet spoken to UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer about the matter. “He asked to speak to me,” Trump said. He added he planned to call Starmer over the weekend.
In a separate interview recorded before his Air Force One comments, Trump said he felt an “obligation” to sue the BBC. He also called the edit “egregious” and “worse than the Kamala thing.” That referred to a CBS interview with Kamala Harris that settled for $16 million.
The Panorama edit combined two parts of Trump’s speech. At one point, he said, “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women.”
More than 50 minutes later he said, “And we fight. We fight like hell.” The programme showed the lines together: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol… and I’ll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell.”
The edit caused major consequences for the BBC. Director general Tim Davie and head of news Deborah Turness both resigned after criticism of the clip. The broadcaster said the programme was reviewed and admitted that the edit “unintentionally created the impression” that Trump’s words were continuous.
BBC lawyers wrote to Trump’s legal team explaining that the documentary was not shown in the United States, that Trump had not been harmed because he was re-elected, and that the edit was not made with malice. They also said political speech is strongly protected under US law.
Featured image via Political Tribune Gallery
