Donald Trump has said he is preparing to sue the BBC, accusing the broadcaster of “putting words in my mouth” and broadcasting comments he insists he never made.
He claimed the BBC falsely attributed remarks to him about the January 6 Capitol riots, while omitting what he described as his comments on “patriotism” and unity.
The Telegraph revealed in November that the BBC’s Panorama programme spliced together sections of a speech delivered by Donald Trump on January 6, 2021.
Mr Trump alleged the broadcaster may have used artificial intelligence to fabricate quotes, calling the incident “fake news”.
Speaking to reporters this afternoon, The US President said: “In a little while, you’ll be seeing I’m suing the BBC for putting words in my mouth.They had me saying things that I never said. I guess they used AI or something.
“So we’ll be bringing that lawsuit. A lot of people are asking when are you bringing that lawsuit?
“Even the media can’t believe that. They actually put terrible words in my mouth having to do with January 6th that I didn’t say and replaced the beautiful words that I said, right?
“The beautiful words talking about patriotism and all of the good things that I said. They didn’t say that, but they put terrible words.
Donald Trump revealed that he will sue the BBC today
|
POOL
“They actually had me speaking with words that I have never said and they got caught because I believe somebody at BBC said this is so bad it has to be reported.
“That’s called fake news. So we’ll be filing that suit probably this afternoon or tomorrow morning.”
Mr Trump previously said he would sue the corporation for between one and five billion dollars.
His comments on the BBC are likely to now signal a major crisis for the corporation as he doubles down on his plans to take legal action.
The doctored speech by Mr Trump was aired on BBC Panorama last year, just days before the US Presidential election, as well as on BBC Newsnight in 2022.
The corporation has denied the January 6 speech was deliberately altered to paint Mr Trump in a bad light and has refused to pay compensation.
They did however say that had given the had given “the mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action” and said it would not show the 2024 programme again.
In Mr Trump’s speech he said: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women.”
Donald Trump said it is his ‘obligation’ to sue the BBC | GB News
More than 50 minutes later in the speech, he said: “And we fight. We fight like hell.”
In the Panorama programme the clip shows him as saying: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol… and I’ll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell.”
In the wake of the scandal, Director-General Tim Davie, along with news chief Deborah Turness, quit saying the scandal was damaging the BBC.
In a statement, Ms Turness wrote that, “as the CEO of BBC News and Current Affairs, the buck stops with me.”
Mr Davie used his departure to emphasise that the BBC “continues to be admired as a gold standard” in journalism.
“Overall the BBC is delivering well, but there have been some mistakes made and as director general I have to take ultimate responsibility,” he wrote.
