Trump may sue BBC for up to $5b over edited speech

KABUL (Pajhwok): US President Donald Trump says he would likely sue the BBC newt week for editing parts of his January 6, 2021 speech in a Panorama documentary, seeking damages of up to $5 billion, a media report said on Saturday.

The BBC reported on Friday that it had apologised to Donald Trump for editing portions of his January 6, 2021, speech in the Panorama documentary, but rejected Trump’s claim for damages. BBC said the edits “created the misleading impression that President Trump had directly called for violent action” and announced that it would no longer broadcast the program.

Trump’s lawyers had initially set a Friday deadline for the BBC to retract its documentary or face a lawsuit for “no less” than $1 billion. They also demanded an apology and compensation for what they called “overwhelming reputational and financial harm,” according to a letter seen by Reuters.

“We’ll sue them for anywhere between $1 billion and $5 billion, probably sometime next week,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he headed to Florida for the weekend.

Trump said he had not spoken with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, with whom he has built a solid relationship, about the issue, but that he planned to call him this weekend. He said Starmer had tried to reach him, and was “very embarrassed” by the incident.

The controversy over the editing of Donald Trump’s words led to the resignation of BBC Director-General Tim Davie and BBC News Head Deborah Turness on Sunday.

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