Aboard Air Force One, Undefined – President Donald Trump said on Friday he would sue the BBC for up to $5 billion, after the British broadcaster apologized but said it would not pay damages for a misleading speech edit.
The broadcaster has rejected Trump’s legal defamation claim, but the president appears determined not to let the matter rest, even after the departure of top BBC executives and as the controversy threatens to become a strain on ties with London.
“We’ll sue them for anywhere between a billion and five billion dollars, probably sometime next week. I think I have to do it. They’ve even admitted that they cheated,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.
Trump earlier said he would sue the BBC for $1 billion, an already enormous sum that represents 13% of the organization’s annual revenue. It is mostly funded by a license fee paid by the British public.
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The broadcaster has been in turmoil since the edited clip from its flagship news program Panorama – aired before the 2024 presidential elections – resurfaced last week.
On Monday, the BBC apologized for giving the impression in the documentary that Trump had directly urged “violent action” just before the assault on the Capitol by his supporters on January 6, 2021.
“The people of the UK are very angry about what happened, as you can imagine, because it shows the BBC is fake news,” Trump said on Friday.
He added that he planned to raise the issue with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who has backed the broadcaster’s independence while avoiding taking sides against Trump.
“I’m going to call him over the weekend. He actually put a call in to me. He’s very embarrassed,” Trump said.
The firestorm over the video edit has led the BBC director-general and the organization’s top news executive to resign.
In another interview with UK channel GB News broadcast on Friday, Trump again said he had an obligation to pursue legal action.
“This was so egregious,” he said of the video edit. “If you don’t do it, you don’t stop it from happening again with other people.”
