BBC to ask US court to dismiss Trump's $10-bn lawsuit

LONDON: The BBC intends to ask a US federal court in Florida to dismiss a $10-billion lawsuit brought by President Donald Trump against the British broadcaster, according to newly-filed court documents.

Trump launched the lawsuit last year over a BBC documentary that edited his 2021 speech ahead of the US Capitol riot, when lawmakers were certifying Joe Biden's 2020 election win.




The programme spliced together two separate sections of Trump's speech on January 6, 2021, in a way that made it appear that he had explicitly urged supporters to attack the Capitol.

The US leader is seeking "damages in an amount not less than $5,000,000,000" for each of two counts against the BBC, for alleged defamation and violation of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.

But in papers filed in federal court in Miami on Monday and seen by AFP, lawyers for the British broadcaster said they will "move to dismiss the complaint" due to the court lacking "personal jurisdiction".

They will argue Trump "will not be able to prove" that the documentary, which aired before the 2024 election but not in the United States, "caused him any cognizable injury".

The court papers alleged he had claimed to suffer "only vague 'harm to his professional and occupational interests'" and that the American president could not "ultimately prove actual damages".

"He won reelection on November 5, 2024, after the documentary aired. He carried Florida by a commanding 13-point margin, improving over his 2020 and 2016 performances," the papers added.

Trump's lawsuit says the edited speech in the documentary was "fabricated" and accused the BBC of "a brazen attempt to interfere in and influence" the 2024 election "to President Trump's detriment".

It is the latest in a string of legal actions Trump has taken against media companies in recent years, several of which have led to multi-million-dollar settlements.

The BBC has denied the claims of legal defamation and unfair trade practices, though the broadcaster's chairman Samir Shah last year sent Trump a letter of apology.

Shah also told a UK parliamentary committee in November that the BBC should have acted sooner to acknowledge its mistake after the error was disclosed in a memo, which was leaked to The Daily Telegraph newspaper.

The furore around the documentary led BBC director general, Tim Davie, and the organisation's top news executive, Deborah Turness, to resign.

A BBC spokesperson said: "As we have made clear previously, we will be defending this case. We are not going to make further comment on ongoing legal proceedings."