It wasn’t enough for the US president that the BBC’s director-general Tim Davie and head of news Deborah Turness were vilified for a controversial documentary that featured a montage of President Donald Trump’s speeches hours before the 2021 riot at Capitol Hill. Mr Trump’s lawyers have written to the UK Corporation threatening to sue the BBC for “at least” $1 billion (870 million euros) unless it provides a “full and fair retraction”.
The recording, released days before the November 2024 presidential election, contained snippets that suggested President Trump actively incited the altercation.
The American president reacted with euphoria to this Sunday’s announcement of Davie and Turness’s departure. “Most people at the BBC are/are being fired because they ‘manipulated’ my very good (perfect!) speech on January 6th,” he said on his social network Truth Social. President Trump has now given the BBC until next 10pm in the UK (and an hour on the Spanish peninsula) to rectify the issue.
“If the BBC does not comply, President Trump will have no choice but to exercise his legal and equitable rights,” the message, which first reached US news outlets, said, including seeking millions of dollars in damages. “The BBC warns,” the letter reads, with the words “Please take timely action” in capital letters.
The withdrawal requirements affect documents in two chapters titled: Trump, a second chance? (Trump, a second chance?), produced by October Film Ltd. for the Panorama program, one of the BBC’s reference spaces. Trump’s lawyers are also seeking an apology for “false, defamatory, derogatory, misleading, and inflammatory statements” made about the US president, as well as full compensation for any harm caused. The BBC has promised to respond, but insists it had no intention of “deceiving” despite growing pressure domestically and from Casablanca.misleadingand are eventually employed by a company).
The issue was caused by a cut in the documentary that appeared to show President Trump calling out the riots that left five people dead and more than 300 detained. The edited video showed the president saying, “Let’s go to the Capitol and fight with you. We’ll fight like the devil. If you don’t fight like the devil, you’re going to lose your country.” But in the actual intervention, U.S. representatives decided to have their supporters accompany them to the Capitol to “energize our brave members” and ensure their voices were heard “peacefully and patriotically.” It refers to “fighting like a devil” (“Fight like hell.”) was announced at the end of his speech 50 minutes later.
The BBC acknowledged that the court version “gave the impression that President Trump had directly resorted to violence” and offered “excuses for this misjudgment”. However, to explain what happened on January 6, 2021, it became clear that the message keys were intended to be synthesized in a “compressed form.”
According to US media outlets, Trump’s lawyers have threatened to file a lawsuit in Florida, which would require them to prove specific episodes of the incident. Trump, a second chance? This was made available to viewers in the state and showed that the president had suffered considerable damage from the broadcast.
According to Florida law, any legal action is valid for two years, and UK regulations require that period. The president could not sue the BBC in London because the documentary was aired more than a year ago, so the deadline had passed.
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