Trump threatens to ‘break’ BBC in billion-dollar lawsuit after accusing broadcaster of manipulating speech about invasion of the Capitol

O President of the United States, Donald Trumpthreatened to sue the British broadcaster BBC by defamationclaiming that a public channel documentary manipulated one of his speeches about the events of January 6, 2021the day of the invasion of the Capitol.

The Republican’s legal team gave a deadline until November 14th so that the broadcaster publish a “full and fair retraction”under penalty of facing a US$1 billion process (around R$5.6 billion).

The information was confirmed by BBC News Brazilwho pointed out that the crisis originated in a leaked internal memorevealing editorial problems in the program Panoramaoriginally shown in October 2024.

Controversial edition of speech and resignations at the station

According to the internal document, the program would have joining together two different excerpts from a speech by Trump made on January 6, 2021, which, according to the president’s defense, conveyed the false impression that he incited his supporters to violence.

The controversy provoked a BBC management crisisresulting in the resignations of news director Deborah Turness and managing director Tim Davie.

Turness denied any political intent, stating that “mistakes happen, but BBC journalists are hard-working people who strive for impartiality”.
Davie also spoke out: “The BBC delivers on its mission, but mistakes have been made – and as director general I must take ultimate responsibility”.

BBC admits error and recognizes editorial failure

O station president, Samir Shahofficially recognized that there was “error of judgment” in editing the documentary.
According to him, editing the speech “conveyed the mistaken impression of a call to action”.

Shah publicly apologized and reported that the episode had already been analyzed in January and May 2025 for the BBC Editorial Guidelines and Standards Committee.

“The aim of the edition was help the public understand the context of the momentbut, with the benefit of hindsight, It would have been better to take more formal action”, he declared.

Threat of billion-dollar action

In a letter sent to the BBC, the American president accused the broadcaster of publishing “false, defamatory and misleading statements” about its performance.
Trump’s lawyer, Alejandro Britonotified the broadcaster based on the laws of Floridademanding financial compensation e public retraction.

Trump claims the case caused “irreparable damage to its international reputation” and reinforced that his team “will not hesitate to use all legal means available” to hold the broadcaster responsible.

Internal crisis and accusations of bias

The case worsened after the leak of a memo from Michael Prescottex-assessor do BBC editorial standards committeewhich denounced an alleged “Al-Trump and anti-Israel” within the broadcaster.

The document also criticized the coverage of war between Israel and Gaza and topics related to gender identityalso citing the BBC Arabic serviceaccused of “systemic impartiality problems”.

In response, Samir Shah stated that all complaints are being treated with “disciplinary actions and editorial reviews”but rejected the existence of any institutional bias within the company.

Political reactions in the United Kingdom

The controversy resonated among British leaders.
O Prime Minister Keir Starmer stated that he does not believe that the BBC is “institutionally biased”, also denying Trump’s accusations of corruption.

The conservative leader Kemi Badenoch declared that “there are serious questions to be answered within the BBC for a long time”.

The leader of Liberal Democrats, Ed Daveycriticized Trump and stated that the American president “wants to destroy the BBC and take our money”.
The British politician Nigel Faragean ally of Trump, revealed that he had spoken to the Republican and reported the question he asked: “Is this how you treat your best ally?”.

History of clashes between Trump and the press

The case marks another chapter in Donald Trump’s history of confrontations with media outlets.
The US president has already sued broadcasters and newspapers for editions considered misleading e defamatory statements.

Em July 2025a CBS News and its controlling company, Paramountagreed to pay US$16 million (around R$90 million) after a legal dispute brought by Trump, who accused the broadcaster of improperly editing an interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris.

Other vehicles, such as The New York Times, CNN e Des Moines Registerhave also faced lawsuits filed by the Republican over the past few years.

Next steps and possible impacts

The BBC even has November 14th to formally respond to the notification.
If there is no retraction, the process must be filed in Florida Justicewhere Trump claims to have suffered direct damage to image and reputation.

The case reignites the debate about press freedom and editorial responsibility in public vehicles, in addition to testing the limits of international law on defamation and political speech.