BBC stands defiant in face of $10bn defamation case

The BBC could be forced to fork out millions in licence fee payers' money as it vowed to defend itself from a $10bn defamation lawsuit launched by Donald Trump.

- DAVID MADDOX MILLIE COOKE DAN HAYGARTH

President Trump’s lawyers argue the depiction of him given in an edit of a Panorama documentary a week before the results of the 2024 US election, “was false and defamatory,” and claimed the corporation had “intentionally and maliciously sought to fully mislead its viewers around the world”.

But in a short but defiant statement issued yesterday, the BBC confirmed it plans to fight the legal action, saying: “As we have made clear previously, we will be defending this case. We are not going to make further comment on ongoing legal proceedings.”

It comes as a host of senior political figures have called on the prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, to intervene and stand up for the BBC in the face of the president’s “outrageous legal threat”.

The Panorama programme, which was broadcast just a week before the 2024 US election results, is accused of misleading viewers by editing a speech Mr Trump delivered on 6 January 2021. It spliced two distinct clips, creating the impression that Mr Trump instructed the crowd: “We're going to walk down to the Capitol ... and I’ll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell.”

An ally of the US president has claimed that the cost to the BBC of defending the action could range between $50m (£37m) and $100m.