Trump vs BBC: UK broadcaster vows to fight president’s defamation claims

After a week of hostility and public confrontation, the UK broadcaster on Monday (17 Nov) said it will challenge any legal action by the United States President Donald Trump, claiming there is "no basis for a defamation suit." Trump has threatened the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) with between $1 billion and 5 billion over an edited version of one of his past speeches.

Also Read: Trump slams ‘dishonest’ BBC; outgoing news chief Turness defends it as ‘not institutionally biased’

Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Trump said, “We’ll sue them. We’ll sue them for anywhere between a billion and five billion dollars, probably sometime next week. We have to do it, they’ve even admitted that they cheated. Not that they couldn’t have done that. They cheated. They changed the words coming out of my mouth.”

BBC chair Samir Shah wrote a letter to Trump apologising for the edit, but he said he strongly disagreed that there was a basis for a defamation claim. Shah, in an email to BBC staff on Monday, said there was speculation about the possibility of legal action, including potential costs or settlements.

"In all this we are, of course, acutely aware of the privilege of our funding and the need to protect our licence fee payers, the British public," Shah wrote.

"I want to be very clear with you - our position has not changed. There is no basis for a defamation case, and we are determined to fight this."

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Two top BBC executives, Head of News Deborah Turness and Director-General Tim Davie, resigned on November 10. Following her resignation, Turness said the corporation "is not institutionally biased." "Mistakes are made", but the BBC's journalists are “hardworking people who strive for impartiality.”

The BBC has come under criticism for editing a portion of Trump's January 6, 2021, speech delivered before protesters stormed the US Capitol in Washington. Critics argued that the edited version, featured in a BBC documentary, was misleading as it omitted a key section in which Trump urged his supporters to demonstrate "peacefully and patriotically."