The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has asked a United States federal court in Florida to dismiss a $10 billion lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump over a documentary that featured an edited version of his January 6, 2021 speech ahead of the US Capitol riot.
Gatekeepers News reports that Trump filed the suit last year, accusing the broadcaster of defamation and violation of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. He is seeking damages of at least $5 billion on each of the two counts.
At the centre of the dispute is a BBC documentary that edited and spliced together two portions of Trump’s speech delivered on the day Congress was certifying Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election. Trump argues that the editing falsely made it appear as though he directly incited his supporters to storm the Capitol.
In court filings submitted on Monday to a federal court in Miami, BBC lawyers argued that the court lacks “personal jurisdiction” over the broadcaster and that Trump has failed to show any measurable harm caused by the documentary.
The filings said Trump had described the alleged damage only in vague terms, including claims of “harm to his professional and occupational interests,” noting that he went on to win reelection on November 5, 2024, carrying Florida by a 13-point margin.
The BBC also argued that while the documentary aired before the 2024 election, it was not broadcast in the United States, a key point underpinning its request for dismissal.
Trump’s lawsuit alleges that the BBC “fabricated” his speech through deceptive editing and accused the organisation of attempting to influence the 2024 presidential election to his disadvantage.
The broadcaster has denied the allegations. However, BBC chairman Samir Shah wrote to Trump last year to apologise and later told a UK parliamentary committee in November that the organisation should have acted sooner to acknowledge the error.
The controversy surrounding the documentary culminated in the resignation of BBC Director-General Tim Davie and senior news executive Deborah Turness.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, a BBC spokesperson said: “As we have made clear previously, we will be defending this case. We are not going to make further comment on ongoing legal proceedings.”
