Trump sues BBC for $10bn over edit of January 6 speech clip: What happens next

U.S. President Donald Trump has launched a legal avalanche against the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) for allegedly editing his January 6 speech in their broadcast Panorama on Monday, December 15, 2025.

The lawsuit has been filed in a federal court in Miami, which includes two counts against the BBC, each seeking damages of no less than $5 billion.

Donald Trump has accused the BBC of defaming and violating the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.

President Donald Trump alleges the broadcaster committed defamation and breached Florida’s laws against deceptive trade.

The case centers on how the BBC edited Trump’s speech clip delivered shortly before the U.S. Capitol riot.

What does the lawsuit say?

According to the lawsuit, the BBC broadcast a “false, defamatory, deceptive, disparaging, inflammatory, and malicious depiction” of Trump.

The 33-page filing alleges that the edited clip was intentionally produced and broadcasted to misrepresent what Trump said during his January 6 address to their supporters.

The dispute centers on the BBC Panorama documentary that was aired in 2024, shortly before the 2024 US presidential election.

The documentary titled Trump: A Second Chance? examines Trump’s political comeback scenarios.

The Panorama documentary featured excerpts from Donald Trump’s speech on January 6, 2021. As per the lawsuit and media reports, the lawsuit indicates that the program edited the footage and pieced together quotes from two separate sections of Trump’s address that occurred nearly 60 minutes apart.

The edit cut out Trump’s speech in which he called for a peaceful protest. The final cut made it appear that Trump instigated supporters to march with him and “fight like hell,” without the clarifying context.

The lawsuit against the BBC now enters the U.S. courts, with Trump demanding billions over how the documentary portrayed his January 6th speech globally.