US President Donald Trump said on Friday he would likely sue the BBC next week for up to $5 billion.
The British Broadcasting Corporation has been plunged into its biggest crisis in decades after two senior staff resigned following accusations of bias, including over the editing of Mr Trump's speech on January 6, 2021, when his supporters stormed the Capitol.
Trump's lawyers had initially set a Friday deadline for the BBC to retract its documentary or face a lawsuit for "no less" than $1 billion. They also demanded an apology and compensation for what they called "overwhelming reputational and financial harm".
The BBC, which has admitted its editing of the remarks was an "error of judgment," sent a personal apology to Mr Trump on Thursday but said it would not rebroadcast the documentary and rejected the defamation claim.
"We'll sue them for anywhere between $1 billion and $5 billion, probably sometime next week," Mr Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he headed to Florida for the weekend.
"I think I have to do that, I mean, they've even admitted that they cheated," he said. "They changed the words coming out of my mouth."
Trump said he had not spoken with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer about the issue, but that he planned to call him this weekend.
The documentary, which aired on the BBC's flagship "Panorama" news programme, spliced together three video excerpts from Trump's speech, creating the impression he was inciting the January 6, 2021, riot. His lawyers said this was "false and defamatory."
