Donald Trump this week took his pressure campaign against the press global, threatening to sue the BBC for $1 billion if it doesn’t fully retract a 2024 episode of the “Panorama” documentary series, apologize and “appropriately compensate” him for alleged “reputational and financial harm” in editing his Jan. 6 speech. But has he overreached in flexing his legal muscles abroad?
In targeting the BBC, Trump appears emboldened after getting Paramount and Disney to settle for $16 million and $15 million, respectively, over cases involving CBS News and ABC News coverage. Since December, major media companies have set a troubling precedent in settling cases they would have been expected to fight on First Amendment grounds.
The BBC, which doesn’t face similar regulatory concerns as U.S.-based networks, may not fold as easily. On Thursday, the network announced that BBC chair Samir Shah “sent a personal letter to the White House making clear to President Trump that he and the Corporation are sorry for the edit.”
But critically, the network stated, “While the BBC sincerely regrets the manner in which the video clip was edited, we strongly disagree there is a basis for a defamation claim.”
That’s significant because, while the BBC apologized personally to Trump, it’s rejection of the defamation claim, and its refusal to “compensate” the president, does not meet his stated demands.
A spokesperson for Trump’s legal team did not immediately respond to request for comment.
Trump’s blow-up with the BBC will test whether he can compel an international news organization to pay up, and potentially, the strength of the Special Relationship between two longtime allies.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who has forged a solid relationship with Trump, refused to say if he would urge the president to drop his legal threat against the BBC, a publicly funded organization that’s also an institution in British life. Starmer said he believes “in a strong and independent BBC” and, unlike some critics, wants it to “exist.” Still, he noted that “where mistakes are made, they do need to get their house in order.”
There’s little question that the “Panorama” documentary edit of Trump’s Jan. 6, 2021, speech was misleading, as it compressed together remarks that occurred roughly 54 minutes apart: Trump telling his supporters that he was going to “walk down to the Capitol” and his suggesting they “fight like hell, and if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”
But error alone likely won’t be enough to prove defamation.
George Freeman, a former Assistant General Counsel of the New York Times Company, and Executive Director of the Media Law Resource Center, told TheWrap that the first question in a case like this is whether there was “gross distortion.” But beyond that, if Trump sues, he’ll also be expected to demonstrate that the BBC intended to mislead. Freeman referenced the landmark 1964 case of New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, in which public figures must show journalists acted with actual malice or reckless disregard for the truth.
“It’s a tough burden,” said Freeman.
Another legal obstacle is related to jurisdiction, as Trump has signaled he’ll file suit in Florida, where there is a two-year statute of limitations for defamation cases; it’s only one year in a number of U.S. states, as well as in the U.K. Trump will also be expected to show how the BBC program, which aired in the U.K. in October 2024, damaged him personally and financially.
Trump attorney Alejandro Brito, in his letter to the BBC, said that “the fabricated statements that were aired by the BBC have been widely disseminated throughout various digital mediums, which have reached tens of millions of people worldwide,” and “consequently, the BBC has caused President Trump to suffer overwhelming financial and reputational harm.”
Proving harm could be tough given that Trump was elected president in the U.S. shortly after the documentary aired in the U.K., and Forbes estimated in September that the president’s worth is $7.3 billion, having added around $3 billion to his tally since the previous year. Indeed, Trump is wealthier and more powerful than ever.
Still, the president has indicated he’ll follow through with a suit. Trump said in a Tuesday Fox News interview that he has an “obligation” to sue because the BBC “defrauded the public, and they’ve admitted it.”
The BBC is already in turmoil over the editorial blunder, with director general Tim Davie and head of news Deborah Turness resigning on Sunday and the broadcaster’s board under fire. Some observers framed the executives’ exit as a “coup” and suggested the BBC’s board, which includes conservative appointees, failed to quickly address a controversy that erupted after the Telegraph reported on a leaked memo highlighting the misleading edit, among other issues. Shah apologized Monday for an “error in judgement” in editing the clip.
In Thursday’s statement, the BBC stated it “has no plans to rebroadcast the documentary ‘Trump: A Second Chance?’ on any BBC platforms.”
On Fox News, Trump said the BBC edit made his speech “sound radical” when it was actually “very calming.”
For Trump, it could be hard to establish in court how a sloppily edited clip in a 2024 British documentary would materially shape how the public perceived his actions on Jan. 6, 2021, as he railed against the “rigged” 2020 election and rallied supporters ahead of Congress’ certification of the results.
Trump’s actions on the day of the Capitol riots, and his broader efforts to overturn his 2020 loss, have already been the subject of an impeachment, a federal indictment and an 18-month bipartisan House investigation — not to mention reams of media coverage in the years leading up the documentary airing. The events of the post-2020 election period still loom over American politics, as just this week, Trump pardoned attorney Rudy Giuliani and other allies.
As for Trump’s specific threat of a $1 billion suit against the BBC, Freeman said the number is “meaningless” since “in American litigation, you can put whatever number you want at the end of a complaint, certainly in a lawyer’s letter, and it doesn’t really mean anything other than getting attention.” Freeman recalled that when he was at the Times, the paper had a policy of not printing the number because “it’s really there just for PR purposes” and “maybe to scare the other side.” (The Times, incidentally, did put the $1 billion figure in its headline.)
It wasn’t long ago that Trump’s lawsuits against the media might be brushed off. In March 2024, Paul Farhi reported in the Atlantic how Trump “won’t stop suing the media and losing.” But seven months later, Trump won a second term as president and it was the media that was suddenly losing.
ABC News defended George Stephanopoulos in court for months after Trump sued the anchor for defamation in March 2024, a claim stemming from Stephanopoulos’ framing of Trump having been found liable for sexual abuse in a civil suit. ABC’s parent company, Disney, settled with Trump in December 2024, weeks after his election victory.
And CBS News initially dismissed Trump’s October 2024 suit against “60 minutes” regarding the editing of a Kamala Harris interview, saying it was “completely without merit.” Parent company Paramount settled with Trump in July 2025 as it sought government approval for its merger with Skydance.
Davie, the BBC’s outgoing director, told staff on Tuesday that “we’ve got to fight for our journalism,” and that “this narrative will not just be given by our enemies, it’s our narrative.”
In rejecting claims of defamation, BBC looks prepared to fight.
