US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters upon arriving at Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Florida, on October 31, 2025.
Samuel Corum | Getty Images
US President Donald Trump is once again at war with major global media companies, threatening a $1 billion lawsuit against the BBC this week.
Britain’s public broadcaster found itself in trouble after airing a documentary that edited President Trump’s January 6, 2021 speech to appear as though he was explicitly encouraging his supporters to attack the Capitol.
When concerns about the documentary came to light, the BBC went into crisis mode, with both its director-general and head of news resigning. Meanwhile, BBC chairman Sameer Shah said the BBC was assessing the “very serious allegations” and apologized for the “error in judgment” surrounding the editorial.
The BBC apologized to President Trump on Thursday and agreed to no longer air the documentary on any of its platforms. However, the US president’s request for compensation was reportedly rejected. President Trump told Fox News this week that he had a “duty” to sue the BBC.
Here’s what’s happening and why it matters.
How did we get here?
In October 2024, the BBC broadcast a panoramic documentary called “Trump: A Second Chance?” In it, President Trump was shown addressing his supporters on January 6, 2021.
Panorama showed Trump saying, “I’m going to walk to the Capitol…and I’m going to be with you. And we’re going to fight. We’re going to fight to the death.” The edits combined two separate parts of his speech, which viewers were not notified of, making it appear as if he had explicitly instructed his supporters to riot in a single statement.
Trump said, “We’re going to walk to the Capitol and cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women,” but that wasn’t the case, as much later (actually about 54 minutes later) he said, “I’ll be there with you. And we’ll fight. We’ll fight like hell.”
US President Donald Trump speaks at the Save America Rally near the White House on Wednesday, January 6, 2021 in Washington, DC.
Bloomberg | Getty Images
The speech became infamous after Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, leading to skirmishes with police and large numbers of demonstrators entering the Capitol. At the time, President Trump called on those involved in the riot to “go home now.”
The documentary did not seem to have caused a fuss at the time, but the editing process came to light after a memo from former BBC adviser Michael Prescott criticizing the BBC’s editorial standards was leaked to the press.
The eye-catching panoramic documentary was not produced by the BBC, but by a third-party production company called Octoberfilm. Nevertheless, questions have been raised as to why it was reviewed and approved for broadcast. This documentary is no longer available on BBC iPlayer.
What does Trump want?
The BBC was plunged into crisis after news of the fraudulent editing broke. Executive Director Tim Davey and Press Director Deborah Turnes have resigned. But that didn’t stop the scandal from snowballing with questions focusing on the BBC’s editorial standards amid allegations of institutional bias.
On Tuesday, the BBC issued a statement saying: “We accept that our editing gave the impression that we were showing a single continuous section of the speech, rather than excerpts from two different points in the speech.”
“As a result, it gave the impression that President Trump had directly called for violence. The BBC would like to apologize for that error in judgment,” it said, adding, “It was not our intention to cause any misunderstanding.”
A view of the BBC building as BBC director-general Tim Davie and news director Deborah Turness resign following revelations that a documentary about US President Donald Trump included edited and misleading footage relating to the 2021 Capitol riots in London, US, on November 10, 2025.
Rashid Nekati Aslim | Anadolu | Getty Images
Mr Trump’s lawyers have written to the BBC demanding that it immediately retract what it called “false, defamatory, derogatory and inflammatory statements” about the president in the documentary. The letter, published in full by Sky News, said the airing of the program had caused “overwhelming financial and reputational damage to President Trump”.
Trump threatened to sue for $1 billion in damages unless the company makes a “full and fair retraction,” apologizes, and compensates the president “for the harm caused.”
The letter, signed by Trump’s lawyer Alejandro Brito, said the BBC must comply with the president’s request by 5pm ET on Friday, November 14, or “the president will have no choice but to exercise his legal and equitable rights…including filing a lawsuit for more than one billion dollars ($1 billion) in damages.”
“The BBC is in the process of reporting,” the letter concludes.
The president told Fox News on Monday that his Jan. 6 speech was “deconstructed” with panoramic editing, in his first comments on the matter. Asked if he would pursue a lawsuit, Trump said, “Well, I think I have an obligation to file a lawsuit. You can’t get people together, you can’t force people to file a lawsuit.”
What happens next?
The BBC issued a statement on its corrections and clarifications page on Thursday, saying it had reviewed the Panorama documentary following criticism of the way President Trump’s January 6, 2021 speech was edited.
“We acknowledge that our editing unintentionally gave the impression that we were showing a single continuous section of the speech, rather than excerpts from various parts of the speech, giving the false impression that President Trump was directly calling for violence,” the BBC said.
“The BBC would like to apologize to President Trump for the error in judgment,” he added.
A BBC spokesperson said that while the company “deeply regrets” the way the documentary clip was edited, it “strongly disagrees that the defamation claims have merit.”
BBC News reported, “If President Trump were to sue in Florida, he would have to prove that the BBC Panorama documentary is available for viewing in Florida.” So far, there appears to be no evidence to suggest that it has been shown in the US
But the British government has defended the BBC, with Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy keen to distinguish between “editorial failures” and its critics, who she said have “launched a sustained attack on the institution itself”.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer also commented on Wednesday’s unrest, telling MPs he believed in a “strong and independent BBC”.
This is not the first time President Trump has filed suit against a major media organization; in recent years, he has filed lawsuits against the Wall Street Journal, CNN, CBS, ABC, and the New York Times, with some lawsuits settled and others dismissed.
—CNBC’s Sam Meredith contributed to this report.
