As the deadline looms for the BBC to respond to Donald Trump’s $1B legal threat, the POTUS has spoken out for the first time on the saga that has seen the BBC Director General and news boss both resign.
Trump was pulling no punches last night on Fox News, saying he has an “obligation” to sue the UK’s public broadcaster as “you can’t allow people to do that.”
“I have to, why not, they defradued the public and have admittted it at their top echelon,” said Trump.
Trump said the BBC had “butchered” his Jan 6 2021 speech, which the BBC has now admitted was edited and spliced together to make it appear as if he was inciting a riot in the Panorama documentary titled Trump: A Second Chance. Trump said a “beautiful,” “calming” speech had been made to “sound radical.” The BBC has put the edit down to BBC News wanting its audience to “better understand” how Trump’s speech was being “received by his own supporters.” That explanation has not really washed.
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Trump’s legal team has given the BBC until Friday to respond to its $1B legal threat, demanding an apology and full retraction.
However, legal commentators have given short shrift to the chance of Trump making anywhere near that sum. He is suing in Florida, which has liberal libel laws, and the documentary wasn’t actually available in America but only came to his attention last week following the scandal that has engulfed the British national broadcaster. Many commentators have said the BBC would probably win if it goes forward but the corporation would want to avoid such a public battle, or a settlement.
Trump has recently struck high-profile settlements with CBS and ABC News. This action would be his first outside the U.S. on this particular crusade.