Washington (United States) (AFP) – A federal judge in Florida on Thursday set a February 2027 trial date for US President Donald Trump’s $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the BBC. Trump filed the suit against the British broadcaster last year over the editing of his speech ahead of the US Capitol riot in a documentary on the flagship BBC current affairs program “Panorama.”
Trump alleges that the BBC’s editing of his January 6, 2021 speech made it appear that he had explicitly urged supporters to attack the Capitol, where lawmakers were certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory. District Judge Roy Altman set a February 15, 2027 date for a jury trial in the case, the latest of several brought by the litigious Trump against the media. The Republican president is seeking “damages in an amount not less than $5,000,000,000” for each of two counts against the BBC, for alleged defamation and violation of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.
Unveiling the lawsuit last year, a spokesperson for Trump’s legal team said the “formerly respected and now disgraced BBC defamed President Trump by intentionally, maliciously, and deceptively doctoring his speech in a brazen attempt to interfere in the 2024 Presidential Election.” “The BBC has a long pattern of deceiving its audience in coverage of President Trump, all in service of its own leftist political agenda,” the spokesperson said.
The British Broadcasting Corporation, whose audience extends well beyond the United Kingdom, faced a period of turmoil after a media report brought renewed attention to the edited clip. The furor led the BBC director-general and the organization’s top news executive to resign. The BBC has denied Trump’s claims of legal defamation, although BBC chairman Samir Shah has sent Trump a letter of apology. Shah also told a UK parliamentary committee that the broadcaster should have acted sooner to acknowledge its mistake after the error was disclosed in a memo, which was leaked to The Daily Telegraph newspaper.
The BBC lawsuit is the latest in a string of legal actions Trump has taken against media companies in recent years, several of which have led to multi-million-dollar settlements. Lawyers for the British broadcaster have sought to have the case dismissed on the grounds that the court in Florida lacks jurisdiction. They have also argued that Trump will not be able to prove that the documentary, which aired before the 2024 election but not in the United States, “caused him any cognizable injury.” “He won reelection on November 5, 2024, after the documentary aired. He carried Florida by a commanding 13-point margin, improving over his 2020 and 2016 performances,” they said.
© 2024 AFP
