US President Donald Trump has said that he is likely to sue the British broadcaster BBC in court next week for having his speech edited in the Panorama programme. He told reporters on board the presidential plane, Reuters reported.
“I think I have to do it, because they even admitted they cheated. They changed the words I said,” Trump said.
The US president said he intends to demand compensation of between one and five billion dollars from the BBC.
Trump said he had not discussed the incident with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, although the latter had tried to call him and was “very embarrassed”.
The controversy was sparked by an hour-long programme” Trump: a second chance?” that aired last year. The piece incorrectly quoted the US president’s speech on 6 January 2021 before the riots in Washington. The programme made it seem as if Trump was directly calling for riots.
In his speech, Trump said: “We will go to the Capitol and cheer on our brave senators and congressmen.” The programme quoted him as saying “we will go to the Capitol… and I will go with you. And we will fight. We’re going to fight hard.”
In Trump’s original speech, the two parts of that statement were separated by a gap of more than 50 minutes, the BBC noted. The corporation said the programme was created for it by an independent contractor.
On 9 November 2025, the BBC received a letter from Trump’s lawyers demanding that it no longer show the edition of the programme with the edited speech, apologise and “duly compensate for the damage caused”. The BBC apologised to Trump but said it had no intention of paying compensation.
BBC director general Tim Davey and head of news services Deborah Ternes have since resigned.