Trump’s threatened the BBC with a $1B lawsuit: Here’s what’s going on
US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters as he arrives at Palm Beach International Airport on Oct. 31, 2025 in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Samuel Corum | Getty Images
U.S. President Donald Trump is once again on the warpath against a major global media company, having threatened the BBC with a $1 billion lawsuit this week.
The British public broadcaster found itself in hot water after airing a documentary in which Trump’s Jan. 6 speech in 2021 was edited to make it look like he was explicitly encouraging his supporters to attack the U.S. Capitol.
As concerns over the documentary came to light, the BBC went into crisis mode, with both its director general and head of news resigning. Meanwhile, BBC Chair Samir Shah said the corporation was assessing the “very serious allegations” and apologized for an “error of judgment” over the edit.
The BBC on Thursday apologized to Trump and agreed not to show the documentary again on any of its platforms. It reportedly rejected the U.S. president’s call for compensation, however. Trump told Fox News this week that he has an “obligation” to sue the BBC.
Here’s what’s going on and why it matters:
How did we get here?
In October 2024, the BBC aired a Panorama documentary called “Trump: A Second Chance?” in which it showed Trump addressing supporters on Jan. 6, 2021.
In the Panorama program, Trump was shown saying, “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol … and I’ll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell.” The edit combined two separate parts of his speech, although this was not flagged to viewers, making it look like he had explicitly instructed his supporters to riot in a single statement.
That was not the case as Trump had said, “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women,” and only much later (in fact, around 54 minutes later) he said, “and I’ll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell.”
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a “Save America Rally” near the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021.
Bloomberg | Getty Images
The speech became infamous as Trump supporters descended on the Capitol after the address, with skirmishes breaking out with police and a number of protesters entering the building. At the time, Trump urged those involved in the riots to “go home now.”
The documentary doesn’t appear to have caused a fuss at the time, but the editing process came to light when a memo written by ex-BBC adviser Michael Prescott was leaked to the press in which he criticized editorial standards at the BBC.
The Panorama documentary in the spotlight was not made by the BBC, but by a third-party production company called October Films. Nonetheless, questions have been asked as to why it was reviewed and approved for broadcasting. The documentary is no longer available to view on the BBC iPlayer.
What does Trump want?
A crisis engulfed the BBC as news of the rogue edit emerged. Director General Tim…
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