In a Florida federal court, President Donald Trump has filed a huge $5 billion defamation lawsuit against the BBC. He says the network edited his speech from January 6, 2021, to make it look like he was encouraging the Capitol riot. The lawsuit is against a BBC Panorama documentary that aired in the UK just before the 2024 election. It says the documentary cut clips together that were 55 minutes apart and left out his call for “peaceful” protest, making it look like he was telling people to “fight like hell.” Trump’s lawyers want $5 billion each for defamation and breaking Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. They say these actions caused serious damage to Trump’s reputation and finances.
The controversial edit mixed Trump’s comments telling supporters to “walk down to the Capitol” with a later “fight like hell” line, leaving out his clear call for peace and making a “false, defamatory, deceptive” story. A whistleblower from the BBC revealed the manipulation, which led to an internal investigation and apologies from BBC Chair Samir Shah, who called it a “error in judgment” but denied any basis for defamation claims. Even though the network apologized and promised not to air the episode again, Trump said their response was not enough and promised to take legal action.
The BBC says that the documentary wasn’t available in the US at first, but it says it has jurisdiction in Florida because of its BritBox streaming service. In November 2025, after BBC executives resigned because of the scandal, Trump first threatened to sue for $1 billion. The full filing came on December 15. Legal experts say that for Trump to win, he must show “actual malice” under US free speech laws.
