The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has formally moved to dismiss a multi-billion dollar lawsuit filed by former U.S. President Donald Trump, challenging the legal foundation of his defamation claims regarding the editing of his January 6th, 2021, speech in a Panorama documentary.
In court documents submitted to a Florida court, the BBC’s legal team outlined a multi-pronged defense strategy. The broadcaster contends that the Florida court lacks ‘personal jurisdiction’ over the BBC, a UK-based entity, and asserts that the chosen venue is ‘improper.’ Furthermore, the corporation argues that President Trump has ‘failed to state a claim’ upon which relief can be granted, fundamentally challenging the lawsuit’s validity.
The legal dispute centers on a specific edit in the documentary ‘Trump Takes on the World,’ which condensed two separate statements from Trump’s lengthy speech into a single sequence. The edited clip showed Trump saying, ‘We’re going to walk down to the Capitol… and I’ll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell.’ The BBC previously acknowledged that this edit created a ‘mistaken impression’ that the President had issued a direct call for violent action, leading to an internal review and subsequent high-level resignations, including then-Director General Tim Davie.
Despite this prior apology, the BBC’s motion vigorously defends its editorial position. It states that the Panorama program was not broadcast in the United States and disputes that it aired on the streaming service Britbox, as alleged by Trump. Crucially, the defense argues that the former president has not demonstrated any actual damage, noting his subsequent electoral victory in Florida. The filing also emphasizes that the clip constituted a mere 15 seconds within an hour-long program that provided extensive and balanced coverage, and it asserts that Trump cannot plausibly allege the content was published with ‘actual malice’—a key requirement for defamation claims by public figures in the U.S.
The broadcaster has additionally requested a stay on all discovery processes until the court rules on this motion to dismiss. A tentative trial date has been set for 2027, should the case proceed beyond this initial stage. A BBC spokesperson reaffirmed the corporation’s commitment to defending the case but declined further comment on the ongoing proceedings.