(Credits: EPA)
The BBC has apologised to Donald Trump hours before a deadline the US President imposed on them.
The furore erupted after the US President’s speech which appeared on Panorama which was edited to appear as if he was explicitly urging people to attack the Capitol on January 6 2021.
The broadcaster told Trump it was an ‘error of judgement’ and the programme will ‘not be broadcast again in this form on any BBC platforms’.
Donald Trump has threatened to sue the BBC for a billion dollars if they don’t apologise and compensate him.
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The US President has given the BBC a deadline of Friday to retract ‘false’ and ‘defamatory’ statements made about him.
A BBC spokesperson said chairman Samir Shah has sent a personal letter to the White House to apologise for the editing of the speech in the Panorama programme, but added: ‘While the BBC sincerely regrets the manner in which the video clip was edited, we strongly disagree there is a basis for a defamation claim.’
Trump threatened legal action after a report from Michael Prescott, a former external adviser to the BBC’s Editorial Standards Committee.
The spliced clip implied that Trump told the crowd: ‘We’re going to walk down to the Capitol and I’ll be there with you, and we fight. We fight like hell.’
The words broadcast were spoken by Trump almost an hour apart.
The edit of the speech played in the Panorama episode has recently attracted heavy criticism, with Mr Trump announcing his ‘obligation’ to launch a billion-dollar lawsuit against the BBC, and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer saying the corporation needed to ‘get their house in order’.
The scandal, for which the BBC has apologised, has also led to high-profile resignations, with BBC director-general Tim Davie and news chief Deborah Turness quitting on Sunday.
Robert Spritzer, an American political scientist and author, told Metro that the statute of limitations in terms of when such a suit could be filed in Britain has passed.
This means that if this suit goes forward, it would likely be filed in an American court, where the statute of limitations doesn’t apply.
Spritzer argues that the key to understanding Trump is realising litigation is one of his chief weapons that he’s used for decades.
‘He utilised it in thousands of cases while he was a businessman and before he entered politics.
‘And the point is not necessarily to win lawsuits. In Trump’s case, it is less about winning than it is generating publicity that he views as favourable to himself, to harass whoever it is that he is suing, to ratchet up the anxiety for the individuals or organisations that he is suing.’
Melania Trump’s lawyers have also threatened to sue author Michael Wolff for $1billion.