BBC seeks dismissal of Trump's $10bn defamation lawsuit

The British Broadcasting Corporation BBC, seeks dismissal of $10bn Trump lawsuit over Panorama edited clips.

The broadcaster’s submission calls on the Florida court to throw out the defamation case where the U.S. president is suing over the editing of the 6 January 2021 speech.

The BBC is to attempt to have Donald Trump’s $10bn defamation lawsuit over the editing of a speech for Panorama thrown out, according to court documents.

The broadcaster faced criticism for airing an episode of the investigative documentary series that featured an edited clip of Trump’s address to a rally on 6 January 2021, which it is alleged gave the impression he encouraged supporters to storm the Capitol building in Washington, DC.

The spliced clips in the edition of Panorama suggested that Trump told the crowd, “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and I’ll be there with you, and we fight. We fight like hell.” The words were taken from sections of his speech almost an hour apart.

The BBC will file a motion to dismiss, claiming the Florida court lacks “personal jurisdiction” over them, the court venue is “improper,” and that Trump has “failed to state a claim,” documents filed on Monday revealed.

The corporation will argue that it did not create, produce, or broadcast the documentary in Florida and that Trump’s claim that the documentary was available in the US on the streaming service BritBox is untrue.

“Simply clicking on the link that plaintiff cites for this point shows it is not on BritBox,” the broadcaster’s lawyers said in court documents.

The BBC will also claim the president has failed to “plausibly allege” it published the documentary with “actual malice,” which public officials are required to show when filing suit for defamation in the US.

The broadcaster has asked the court “to stay all other discovery”—the pre-trial process in which parties gather information—pending the decision on the motion.

In asking for discovery to be delayed, lawyers for the BBC said, “The plaintiff will seek broad, objectionable discovery on the merits, implicating the BBC’s entire scope of coverage of Donald J. Trump over the past decade or more and claiming injury to his entire business and political profiles.”

A 2027 trial date has been proposed should the case continue.

The BBC was approached for comment. It vowed previously to defend itself against the $10bn lawsuit over the episode, which aired in 2024.

Trump has sought $5bn in damages each on two counts, alleging that the BBC defamed him and that it violated Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.

The US president alleged the broadcaster “intentionally, maliciously, and deceptively” edited the 6 January speech he gave before the attack on the US Capitol.

While BBC has acknowledged previously that the editing was an “error of judgment” and apologized to Trump, it has insisted there is no legal basis for a defamation claim.

Tim Davie, who was the BBC’s director general, and Deborah Turness, who was the head of BBC News, resigned last month over the controversy.

Trump’s lawsuit against the BBC was filed at the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida, even though BBC iPlayer, the main streaming platform that carries Panorama, and BBC One, the main TV channel that broadcasts it, are not available in the US.

The episode never aired in the U.S., and the BBC is expected to argue that it therefore had no significant impact on Trump’s reputation among U.S. audiences.

Since his re-election, Trump has scored several high-profile legal wins against big media firms in the US. ABC, owned by Disney, agreed to pay $15m as part of a settlement over a defamation lawsuit he brought after comments made by the anchor George Stephanopoulos.

In July, Trump reached a $16m settlement with Paramount, the parent of CBS News, over what he claimed was false editing of a pre-election interview with the Democratic candidate for president, Kamala Harris.

Additionally, regarding BBC's lawsuit, the firm's 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," he added.