The BBC has revealed some of the arguments it will use as it attempts to have US President Donald Trump’s $10 billion defamation lawsuit over a Panorama programme thrown out.
Court documents show the legal steps the British corporation will take, telling a federal judge in Miami that the documentary at the centre of the case was fair despite a misleading edit of one segment.
According to the filing, Mr Trump‘s lawsuit fails to meet the high bar necessary for alleging defamation against a public figure. The standard requires evidence of what is known as actual malice, meaning the allegedly defamatory statement was made intentionally or with a reckless disregard for the truth.
Late on Monday, the BBC asked to pause the exchange of evidence in the suit, filed last month, until a ruling is issued on the broadcaster’s motion to dismiss the case. That is due in March.
The BBC also said it would aim to move the case from Florida to New York if it is not dismissed, because the claims relate to a documentary the BBC “did not create in Florida, produce in Florida, or air in Florida".
Panorama faced criticism late last year over an episode broadcast in 2024. It suggested that Mr Trump made a direct call for violence in a speech before the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol by his supporters.
In the episode, a clip from Mr Trump’s speech was spliced to show him saying: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol … and I’ll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell.”
BBC chairman Samir Shah acknowledged in November that the edited footage of Mr Trump’s speech wrongly gave “the impression of a direct call for violent action". Days later, the broadcaster issued a second apology, but rejected the President’s demand for compensation.
Mr Trump is seeking up to $10 billion in damages in response to the editing of the speech, with his lawyers claiming it was “false and defamatory”. The BBC has claimed the Florida court lacks “personal jurisdiction” over the corporation, the court venue is “improper” and that Mr Trump has “failed to state a claim”, documents filed late on Monday evening showed.
The corporation will argue it did not create, produce or broadcast the documentary in Florida and that Mr Trump’s claim the episode 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.
“The lack of actual malice is underscored by the fact that the brief clip, which shows less than 15 seconds of plaintiff’s speech on January 6, is part of an hour-long film containing extensive coverage of his supporters and balanced coverage of his path to reelection."
In asking for discovery to be delayed, lawyers for the BBC said: “The plaintiff will seek broad, objectionable discovery on the 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.”
It has been proposed that a trial could be held in 2027, 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.”
Mr Trump’s legal team did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
