BBC given three demands by Donald Trump in order to avoid $1 billion lawsuit
Donald Trump has given three demands to the BBC if it wants to avoid a $1 billion lawsuit.
The president of America, 79, has threatened legal action after the BBC edited a speech he made before the attacks on the US Capitol on 6 January 2021 in a Panorama documentary.
Trump: A Second Chance? was broadcast a week before last year's election and appeared to show Trump encouraging the riots.
"We're going to walk down to the Capitol... and I'll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell," he said in the edited BBC version.
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However, what the Republican leader actually said was: "We're going to walk down to the Capitol, and we're going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women."
The 'fight like hell' line was taken from a section where Trump discussed how 'corrupt' US elections were.
Following the backlash, BBC director general Tim Davie and CEO of News Deborah Turness announced that they had stepped down from their roles on Sunday (9 November).
After thanking The Telegraph, who leaked the memo last week, Trump has now threatened the BBC with a $1 billion lawsuit.
In a letter, legal counsel Alejandro Brito has criticised the organisation for sharing 'false, defamatory, disparaging, and inflammatory statements' about Trump.
The three demands made in the letter are to:
• Issue a 'full and fair retraction' of Trump: A Second Chance?
• Apologise immediately
• 'Appropriately compensate' Trump
Trump has given the BBC until Friday (14 November) to meet his demands.
“Failure to comply will leave President Trump with no choice but to pursue any and all legal rights and remedies available to recover damages for the overwhelming financial and reputational harm that the BBC has caused him to suffer, with all rights and remedies being expressly reserved by President Trump,” Brito added.
A BBC spokesperson said: “We will review the letter and respond directly in due course.”
BBC Chairman Samir Shah apologised for the 'error of judgment' and said: “We accept that the way the speech was edited did give the impression of a direct call for violent action.”
In a lengthy post on Truth Social, Trump said: “The TOP people in the BBC, including TIM DAVIE, the BOSS, are all quitting/FIRED, because they were caught 'doctoring' my very good (PERFECT!) speech of January 6th.”
“These are very dishonest people who tried to step on the scales of a Presidential Election,” he added.
“On top of everything else, they are from a Foreign Country, one that many consider our Number One Ally. What a terrible thing for Democracy!”
Anish Vij