President Trump sues BBC
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President Trump sued the BBC on Monday, seeking $10 billion in damages and alleging that a documentary, which aired shortly before the 2024 election, defamed him by editing his speech from Jan. 6, 2021, in a misleading way.
Why it matters: It marks the third lawsuit the president has waged against a media company while in office.
- Trump filed a $15 billion lawsuit against the New York Times in September and then refiled the case the following month after the original complaint was dismissed for being unnecessarily long.
- He sued the Wall Street Journal in July over its reporting about his purported contribution to Jeffrey Epstein's birthday book.
Driving the news: The suit, filed in federal court in Miami, Florida, accuses the BBC of one count of defamation and one of violating Florida's Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.
- Trump's legal team is seeking a jury trial and $5 billion in damages for each count.
Catch up quick: Two top BBC leaders resigned following criticism about the documentary edit that was revealed in an internal memo leaked by The Telegraph.
- The memo, which raised concerns about the BBC's impartiality, drew swift condemnation from the White House. A lawyer for Trump sent a letter to the BBC threatening a $1 billion defamation suit unless the British broadcaster issued a retraction, an apology and compensation.
- A few days later, the BBC formally apologized to President Trump, but did not indicate that it would compensate the president, as he had demanded.
Zoom in: The 33-page lawsuit alleges it "would have been impossible for BBC's journalists and producers to splice together two distinct parts of the Speech from nearly 55 minutes apart unless they were acting intentionally."
- Such "a dramatic distortion could never have occurred by accident," it adds.
What they're saying: A spokesperson for his legal team in a Monday night email accused the British broadcaster of "intentionally, maliciously, and deceptively doctoring his speech in a brazen attempt to interfere in the 2024 Presidential Election."
The other side: A BBC spokesperson said after Trump threatened to sue the outlet that while it "sincerely regrets the manner in which the video clip was edited, we strongly disagree there is a basis for a defamation claim."
- Representatives for the BBC did not immediately respond to Axios' Monday evening request for comment.
Zoom out: The president has upped his legal battles against media companies over the past decade as his political career has taken off.
- Last year, he sued the Des Moines Register, ABC and CBS. The latter two organizations both agreed to multimillion-dollar settlements.
Context: In the U.S., there is a very high legal bar for people in power to meet in order to win a defamation case against a media company.
- The BBC would likely argue in court that the edit was not conducted with "actual malice" and that the documentary didn't harm the president's reputation, as it never aired in the U.S.
What to watch: Whether the president's lawsuit against the BBC inspires him to challenge more foreign broadcasters, in addition to U.S. media companies.
Editor's note: This article has been updated with additional details throughout.
