Security guards stand guard outside the BBC station after BBC director-general Tim Davie and BBC News chief executive Deborah Turness resigned following allegations of bias at the British broadcaster, including the way US President Donald Trump edited a speech, in London, England, November 11, 2025.
Hannah McKay | Reuters
President Donald Trump filed a defamation lawsuit against the BBC in Miami federal court Monday night, seeking at least $5 billion in damages.
The civil complaint accuses the British Broadcasting Corporation of producing a “false, defamatory, deceptive, derogatory, inflammatory and malicious portrayal of President Trump” in the Panorama documentary, which aired a week before the 2024 election.
Trump’s lawsuit alleges the documentary was produced as part of a “brazen attempt to interfere with and influence the outcome of the election to the detriment of President Trump.”
The complaint notes that the documentary, titled “Trump: Second Chance,” was edited to appear as if President Trump explicitly encouraged his supporters to attack the U.S. Capitol during a speech outside the White House on January 6, 2021.
“The Panorama documentary falsely depicts President Trump telling his supporters, ‘We’re going to walk to the Capitol, and I’m going to be there with you, and we’re going to fight. We’re going to fight like hell, but if you don’t fight like hell, we won’t have a country anymore,'” the complaint says. “President Trump never uttered these words.”
In fact, according to the complaint, the text containing the words “and we will fight” was uttered about 55 minutes after Trump uttered the words “I’m with you.”
BBC chairman Sameer Shah recently apologized for an “error in judgment” over editorial matters, and the broadcaster’s director-general and head of news both resigned.
CNBC has contacted the BBC for comment on Trump’s lawsuit.
The BBC apologized to President Trump on November 13 and promised not to broadcast the documentary again or on any of its platforms.
“The BBC deeply regrets the way the video clip was edited, but strongly disagrees that the defamation claim has merit,” the broadcaster said in a statement on November 13.
President Trump told reporters at the White House early Monday that a lawsuit would be filed soon.
“In a little while, I’m going to be suing the BBC for the words I said,” Trump said. “They literally put words in my mouth. They made me say things I never said.”
The complaint alleges that “concerns about the Panorama documentary were raised internally prior to distribution, but the BBC ignored those concerns and took no corrective action.”
The complaint also said the documentary was “part of the BBC’s long-standing pattern of manipulating President Trump’s speeches and presenting content in a misleading manner in order to defame him, including fabricating calls for violence that President Trump never made.”
The suit is the latest in a series of defamation lawsuits brought against media companies by the notoriously litigious president.
In September, President Trump filed a $15 billion lawsuit against the New York Times, accusing it of being a “mouthpiece” for the Democratic Party.
In July, President Trump sued media mogul Rupert Murdoch and the publisher of the Wall Street Journal for $10 billion in damages over the newspaper’s report that he sent a “vulgar” letter to his then-friend Jeffrey Epstein on Epstein’s 50th birthday.
President Trump has denied sending or writing the letter, which was included in a document later turned over to a congressional committee by the estate of notorious sex offender Epstein.
In October 2024, Trump filed a lawsuit against CBS for $20 billion, alleging that it deceptively edited an interview given to “60 Minutes” by then-election opponent Kamala Harris.
CBS parent company, paramount skydanceagreed in July to pay $16 million to settle the lawsuit, with the money earmarked for Trump’s future presidential library. The payment came weeks before the Federal Communications Commission, led by a Trump appointee, approved Paramount’s $8 billion merger plan with Skydance Media.
In December 2024, ABC agreed to pay Trump’s library $15 million to settle a defamation lawsuit brought against him by author E. Jean Carroll related to anchor George Stephanopoulos’ inaccurate description of a civil jury verdict.
