BBC to file motion to have Trump defamation lawsuit thrown out

The BBC will take legal steps to have Donald Trump’s $5 billion defamation lawsuit over a January 6 Panorama edit thrown out, court documents show.

The US president filed a defamation lawsuit over the BBC’s editing of a speech he made in 2021, which gave the impression that he had encouraged his supporters to storm the Capitol building.

Panorama faced criticism late last year over the episode broadcast in 2024, which spliced two clips together from two separate parts of his speech.

The criticism led to the resignation of two of the corporation’s most senior figures in November– Chief Executive of BBC News Deborah Turness and Director-General Tim Davie.

President Trump is seeking up to $10 billion (£7.5 billion) total in damages, with his lawyers claiming the edit was “false and defamatory”. Of that, $5 billion is under a defamation lawsuit, and a further $5 billion for an alleged violation of trade practice law.

The BBC will file a motion to dismiss, claiming the Florida court lacks “personal jurisdiction” over them, that the court venue is “improper”, and that Mr Trump has “failed to state a claim”, documents filed late Monday evening reveal.

BBC director-general Tim Davie resigned following criticism of the way a speech by Donald Trump was edited for Panorama. / Credit: PA

The broadcaster will argue that it did not create, produce, or broadcast the documentary in Florida, and that Trump’s claim that the documentary was available in the US on streaming service BritBox is not true.

“Simply clicking on the link that plaintiff cites for this point shows it is not on BritBox,” the broadcaster’s lawyers said in court documents.

It will also claim the president has failed to “plausibly allege” the BBC published the documentary with “actual malice”, which public officials are required to show when filing suit for defamation in the US.

The broadcaster has asked the court “to stay all other discovery” – the pre-trial process in which parties gather information – pending the decision on the motion.

In asking for discovery to be delayed, lawyers for the BBC said: “The plaintiff will seek broad, objectionable discovery on merits, implicating the BBC’s entire scope of coverage of Donald J Trump over the past decade or more and claiming injury to his entire business and political profiles.”

A 2027 trial date has been proposed should the case continue.

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.”