BBC files motion asking US court to throw out Trump’s $10bn lawsuit | Freedom of the press

‘Trump: A Second Chance?’ The US president sued the BBC over the documentary, seeking $5bn for defamation, $5bn for unfair trade practices.

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has asked a US court in Florida to dismiss a $10bn defamation suit brought by United States President Donald Trump for editing one of his speeches, warning the case could have a “chilling effect” on reporting.

A lawsuit filed by a group of his supporters over the editing of Trump’s 2021 speech at the US Capitol in Washington should be dismissed due to the potential impact of “expensive and baseless litigation” on “free speech”, the British national broadcaster said on Monday.

The broadcaster’s 34-page filing challenged the jurisdiction of the federal court in the Southern District of Florida, where Trump filed his lawsuit, Trump: A Second Chance? Argued that the documentary titled, was never broadcast in Florida or the United States.

The broadcaster’s lawyers argued that the documentary, which aired shortly before the presidential election in 2024, had “damaged his reputation”.

He said Trump’s case “falls short of the high bar of actual malice” — a key legal requirement in defamation lawsuits.

The BBC has apologized for an edit that spliced ​​together two separate segments of Trump’s speech on January 6, 2021, which appeared to have clearly urged supporters to attack the US Capitol.

Trump filed his lawsuit in December, seeking $5bn in damages for defamation and another $5bn for violations of Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.

The president’s lawsuit accuses the BBC of broadcasting a “false, defamatory, deceptive, derogatory, inflammatory and malicious portrayal” of him, calling it a “brazen attempt to interfere and influence” the 2024 US presidential election.

It triggered the resignations of BBC Director General Tim Davey and News Director Deborah Turness last year.

The broadcaster said the “chilling effect was palpable” as Trump was “one of the most powerful and high profile people in the world, whose activities the BBC reports on daily”.

The Florida court tentatively set a trial date for February 2027.