The US president has threatened the British state-funded broadcaster with a $1 billion lawsuit for misleadingly editing his speech
The BBC is prepared to issue a formal apology to US President Donald Trump to settle a billion-dollar lawsuit he filed earlier this week, according to several media reports.
Trump is demanding the retraction of a documentary that contained a misleading edit of a speech he delivered prior to the 2021 Capitol Hill riot. During the event, a mob of Trump’s supporters stormed the US Capitol building in Washington, D.C., in a bid to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
The US president accused the broadcaster of “reckless disregard for the truth” after a leaked internal BBC dossier, published by The Telegraph last week, revealed that the documentary show Panorama edited his speech to suggest he had incited the riot. The accusations forced both the director general and head of news to resign.
Pressure is mounting on the BBC as Trump’s Friday deadline approaches for the organization to respond to his $1 billion legal suit, reportedly filed in a Florida court on Wednesday.
The BBC is now ready to apologize, with its lawyers currently drafting the wording of their response to the US president, according to The Telegraph. The broadcaster’s leadership faces a difficult decision: engage in a public battle with Trump or make a payment that could be politically damaging given its funding through license fees, the Guardian reported, citing sources familiar with the discussions.
On Monday, BBC Chairman Samir Shah acknowledged that the edited video gave the “impression of a direct call for violent action,” concluding that “the BBC would like to apologize for that error of judgment.”
Trump has since intensified his legal threat, asserting he feels “an obligation” to sue the BBC. “I guess I have to,” he told Fox News. “They defrauded the public and they’ve admitted it.”
The BBC, however, rejected claims that the corporation is “institutionally biased.” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office also denied that the broadcaster was biased or corrupt while acknowledging that “clearly mistakes have been made in this case.”
Commenting on the matter, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov condemned efforts to shift blame away from the BBC’s clear responsibility for the scandal as a “disgrace.” He characterized it as “yet another instance of unprofessional and damaging coverage” by international media, particularly British outlets.
