The BBC is preparing to challenge a $10 billion defamation lawsuit filed by US President Donald Trump, seeking to have the case dismissed, according to newly filed court documents.
The legal action stems from a Panorama programme broadcast in 2024, which faced criticism for allegedly giving the impression that Mr Trump had encouraged his supporters to storm the US Capitol building in 2021.
The episode featured a clip from Mr Trump’s speech on January 6, 2021, and was edited to show him stating: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol… and I’ll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell.”
Mr Trump is pursuing damages of up to $10 billion (£7.5 billion), with his legal team saying that the editing of the speech was “false and defamatory”.
Documents filed late on Monday evening, UK time, indicate that the BBC intends to file a motion for dismissal.
Its arguments include that the Florida court lacks “personal jurisdiction” over the broadcaster, that the court venue is “improper”, and that Mr Trump has “failed to state a claim”.
The corporation will argue that it did not create, produce or broadcast the documentary in Florida and that Mr Trump’s claim that the documentary was available in the US on streaming service BritBox is not true.
It will also claim the president has failed to “plausibly allege” the BBC published the documentary with “actual malice”, which public officials are required to show when filing suit for defamation in the US.
The broadcaster has asked the court “to stay all other discovery” – the pre-trial process in which parties gather information – pending the decision on the motion.
A 2027 trial date has been proposed should the case continue.
The BBC has been approached for comment.
The scandal unfolded in 2025 after a leaked memo, written by Michael Prescott, a former external adviser to the BBC’s editorial standards committee, highlighted concerns about the Panorama episode.
Shortly after the leak, Mr Trump threatened a billion-dollar legal action and litigator Alejandro Brito demanded that “false, defamatory, disparaging, and inflammatory statements” made about the president must be retracted immediately.
BBC chair Samir Shah apologised on behalf of the BBC over an “error of judgment” and accepted the editing of the 2024 documentary gave “the impression of a direct call for violent action”.
The fallout from the report also led to the resignation of both director-general Tim Davie and head of BBC News Deborah Turness.
