Trump Plans Legal Action Against BBC over Panorama Editing Controversy

Sat Nov 15 2025 05:56:29 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

Donald Trump announces intentions to sue the BBC for alleged misrepresentation of his speech during a Panorama program, following an editing controversy and the BBC's apology.

Former President Donald Trump stated he will pursue legal action against the BBC related to the editing of his speech on Panorama, claiming it misrepresented his remarks. The BBC has apologized for giving a false impression but declined to offer financial compensation. This incident has led to resignations within the BBC's leadership, and Trump's legal team previously issued a deadline for action, which the BBC has now responded to.

US President Donald Trump has said he still intends to take legal action against the BBC over how his speech was edited by Panorama.

Speaking to reporters on board Air Force One on Friday evening, Trump said: We'll sue them for anywhere between a billion and $5bn probably sometime next week.

Trump discussed the issue with UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer over the weekend. On Friday, the BBC stated that the edit of the 6 January 2021 speech gave the mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action.

The BBC apologized but said it would not pay financial compensation.

Earlier this week, Trump's lawyers threatened to sue the BBC for $1bn in damages unless the corporation issued a retraction, apologized, and compensated him. Trump's legal team had issued a deadline of 22:00 GMT (17:00 EST) on Friday 14 November to respond, which the BBC did.

This controversy has resulted in the resignations of BBC director general Tim Davie and head of news Deborah Turness on Sunday.

Public court records indicate that no legal action had been filed by the current time. Federal and state courts in Florida, where a case would likely be recorded, are now closed for the weekend. Searches related to federal cases involving the BBC show that no case has been filed by the Trump administration to date.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated shortly.