Trump sues BBC for $10bn in defamation lawsuit over documentary speech edit

US President Donald Trump has filed a $10 billion lawsuit against the BBC, accusing the British broadcaster of defamation as well as deceptive and unfair trade practices.

The 33-page lawsuit accuses the BBC of broadcasting a "false, defamatory, deceptive, disparaging, inflammatory, and malicious depiction of President Trump," calling it "a brazen attempt to interfere in and influence" the 2024 US presidential election.

Last month, Trump had already sent a letter to the BBC threatening a $1 billion lawsuit over an edition of the BBC’s flagship current affairs series "Panorama," titled "Trump: A Second Chance?" broadcast days before the 2024 US presidential election.

The lawsuit accused the BBC of "splicing together two entirely separate parts of President Trump’s speech on January 6, 2021" to "intentionally misrepresent the meaning of what President Trump said."

The speech took place before some of Trump’s supporters stormed the US Capitol as Congress was poised to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election that Trump falsely alleged was stolen from him.

The broadcaster had apologised last month to Trump over the edit of the speech, but rejected claims it had defamed him.

BBC chairman Samir Shah had called it an "error of judgment," which triggered the resignations of the BBC’s top executive and its head of news.

The hourlong documentary spliced together three quotes from two sections of the 2021 speech, delivered almost an hour apart, into what appeared to be one quote in which Trump urged supporters to march with him and "fight like hell." Among the parts cut out was a section where Trump said he wanted supporters to demonstrate peacefully.

Trump said earlier Monday that he was suing the BBC "for putting words in my mouth."

"They actually put terrible words in my mouth having to do with Jan. 6 that I didn’t say, and they’re beautiful words, that I said, right?" the president said unprompted during an appearance in the Oval Office. "They’re beautiful words, talking about patriotism and all of the good things that I said. They didn’t say that, but they put terrible words."

The president's lawsuit was filed in Florida. Deadlines to bring the case in British courts expired more than a year ago.

Legal experts have brought up potential challenges to a case in the US given that the documentary was not shown in the country.

The lawsuit alleges that people in the US can watch the BBC's original content, including the "Panorama" series, which included the documentary, by using the subscription streaming platform BritBox.