BBC to fight Trump's $10bn court case over 'false' Panorama edit

The BBC is preparing to argue that Donald Trump's $10bn (£7.5bn) court case against it should be dismissed, saying it has no case to answer over the US president's claims he was defamed by an episode of Panorama.

- Michael Savage

Trump filed a 33-page complaint to a Florida court on Monday accusing the broadcaster of “a false, defamatory, deceptive, disparaging, inflammatory and malicious depiction” of the president in the documentary.

Yesterday the BBC said it would defend itself over the suit. It is understood the corporation is likely to argue it did not have the rights to air the documentary in the US, and the case should therefore be dismissed.

The move is an attempt to see off the lawsuit before litigation costs mount. It will be greeted with relief by supporters of the BBC, who have argued that its editorial independence would be called into question if it sought to settle.

The Panorama programme, Trump: A Second Chance?, was broadcast before the 2024 US election. It spliced together two parts of the 6 January speech Trump gave before the attack on the US Capitol.

Trump’s complaint argues both that the programme defamed him and that it violated Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. It says the broadcast caused Trump “massive economic damage to his brand value and significant damage and injury to his future financial prospects”.

The BBC will note that audiences in the US were unable to access the show via its streaming platform, iPlayer.