US President Donald Trump has confirmed that he intends to sue the BBC for a sum between 1 and 5 billion dollars over what he claims was a deliberately manipulated edit of his speech on the program Panorama.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said the lawsuit will be filed soon.
“We will sue them for one to five billion dollars, probably next week,” Trump stated. “We have to do it. They even admitted they cheated. They changed the words that came out of my mouth.”
Trump added that he plans to discuss the matter with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer during the weekend, insisting that people in the United Kingdom are “very angry about what happened.”
The BBC officially apologized on Thursday for what it called a “serious error in judgment,” but stressed that it does not believe there is a legal basis for a defamation claim.
Earlier this week, Trump’s lawyers threatened to sue the broadcaster for 1 billion dollars unless it apologized, removed the video and paid damages.
Legal experts, however, argue that Trump may struggle to bring the case to court either in the United Kingdom or in the United States. The deadline for filing a defamation case in UK courts has already passed, since the documentary aired in October 2024, more than a year ago.
