The BBC told a federal court in Florida on Monday that it would seek to dismiss President Donald Trump’s $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the broadcaster, saying in a motion that the president both lacked jurisdiction and couldn’t prove he was harmed by a BBC documentary’s spliced editing of his Jan. 6 speech.
The filing comes nearly a month after Trump sued the network for $10 billion over a pre-2024 election documentary — titled “Trump: A Second Chance?” — that cut different portions of Trump’s speech on the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., that made Trump appear to urge his supporters to “fight like hell” ahead of the Capitol riot. He demanded $5 billion each for one count of defamation and another for violating a Florida trade practices law.
A BBC spokesperson referred to its statement last month after Trump initially filed his lawsuit in Florida’s southern district, saying the network “will be defending this case” and was “not going to make further comment on ongoing legal proceedings.”
“The BBC is liable to President Trump for intentionally and maliciously defaming him by distorting and manipulating his speech,” a spokesperson for Trump’s legal team said in a statement. “No amount of attempted legal maneuvers can change that fact. President Trump will continue to hold accountable the BBC and all those who traffic in fake news.”
After an internal report last year criticized the editing and led to the resignations of the BBC’s director general and its head of news, Trump demanded the network apologize and compensate him. The BBC did issue Trump an apology, but it has refused to pay him and has rejected his claims that the documentary defamed him.
The broadcaster said in its Monday filing, according to the BBC, that it would file its motion to dismiss on March 17, arguing that because the documentary was not produced in Florida and did not air in the U.S., the Florida court lacked jurisdiction.
It also rejected Trump’s defamation claim, saying the spliced clip is only a few seconds of an hourlong program that balanced coverage of his path toward reelection. It said Trump failed to “plausibly allege” that the BBC acted with “actual malice,” the legal bar for defamation claims against high-profile figures, and will not be able to prove that the documentary caused him “any cognizable injury” due to his win in the 2024 presidential election.
The BBC asked the court to postpone any discovery process, which would require both sides to exchange communications and internal records, saying that it would present a high cost that would be pointless if the court grants its motion to dismiss.
“Engaging in unbounded merits-based discovery while the motion to dismiss is pending will subject defendants to considerable burdens and costs that will be unnecessary if the motion is granted,” attorney Charles Tobin wrote for the broadcaster.
