Source: Africa Publicity
American President, Donald Trump, says he will sue the BBC early next week for up to $5 billion over the doctored Panorama case.
His latest threat issued on Friday, November 14, came after the Bristish broadcaster apologized to him over the Panorama edit.
Speaking to journalists aboard Air Force One, Trump says “We’ll sue them for anywhere between a billion and five billion dollars, probably some time next week. I think I have to do it. They’ve even admitted that they cheated.”
According to Trump, the BBC changed his words. He says he would raise the BBC issue with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, saying “I’m going to call him over the weekend. He actually put a call into me. He’s very embarrassed.”
Apology
The BBC had apologized to Trump for its doctored documentary that spliced parts of his January 6, 2021 speech together.
Despite the apology on Thursday, November 13, 2025, the BBC rejected Trump’s demands for compensation.
According to the British Broadcasting Corporation, the edit had given “The mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action”.
The BBC says it would not broadcast the 2024 Panorama programme again.
In its Corrections and Clarifications section, published on Thursday evening, the BBC explained that the Panorama programme had been reviewed after criticism of how Trump’s speech had been edited.
The BBC had been given a deadline of 22:00 GMT (17:00 EST) on Friday to respond.
“We accept that our edit unintentionally created the impression that we were showing a single continuous section of the speech, rather than excerpts from different points in the speech, and that this gave the mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action,” the statement says.
Trump’s earlier threat
President Trump had earlier threatened to sue the BBC for $1 billion over what his legal team calls a “fabricated” Panorama documentary that allegedly distorted his January 6, 2021 speech.
In a letter dated November 9, 2025, Trump’s attorney Alejandro Brito demanded that the British broadcaster retract the programme — “Trump: A Second Chance” — by November 14, 2025, or face legal action.
The letter, titled “Re: Demand to Retract False And Defamatory Statements About The President of the United States of America,” accuses the BBC of “splicing together three separate parts” of Trump’s 2021 remarks “to completely mislead its viewers.”
According to the correspondence, “the BBC intentionally sought to completely mislead its viewers by splicing together three separate parts of President Trump’s speech to supporters on January 6, 2021.”
The Panorama programme allegedly showed Trump telling supporters:
“We’re gonna walk down to the Capitol and I’ll be there with you and we fight. We fight like hell and if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”
But Trump’s lawyers claim that this “fabricated depiction” omitted crucial words, quoting his actual remarks as:
“We’re going to walk down, and I’ll be there with you, we’re going to walk down, we’re going to walk down any one of you but I think right here, we’re going to walk down to the Capitol and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressman and women.”
The BBC, the letter continues, also “edited out President Trump saying, ‘I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.’”
Trump’s legal team cites a leaked internal memorandum which, they say, confirms the broadcaster “maliciously made it appear that President Trump [said] things [he] never actually said.”
Brito’s letter adds: “Failure to comply will leave President Trump with no choice but to pursue any and all legal rights and remedies available to recover damages for the overwhelming financial and reputational harm that the BBC has caused him to suffer.”
The letter concluded with a stark warning:
“If the BBC does not comply with the above by November 14, 2025, at 5:00 p.m. EST, President Trump will be left with no alternative but to enforce his legal and equitable rights, all of $1,000,000,000 (One Billion Dollars) in damages. The BBC is on notice.”
The dispute follows internal turmoil at the broadcaster: BBC Director General Tim Davie and CEO of News Deborah Turness both resigned on Sunday night, after a leaked memo criticised the Panorama programme’s editing choices, calling them an “error of judgment.”
According to Trump’s legal team, “the BBC lacks any viable defense to the overwhelming reputational and financial harm it has caused President Trump to suffer.”
