Trump's War with the BBC
Updated: Nov 21, 2025
Trump threatened legal action of 1 billion dollars against the BBC, following a misquote in a Panorama documentary. The programme included quotes from Donald Trump that were cut out in a way that suggested Trump’s instigation of the storming of the Capitol on 6 January 2021. The documentary portrays Trump’s words as: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol and I’ll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell.” Following a transcript of the speech, his real words were: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women, and we’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them.” The phrase “we fight like hell” was used vaguely at the end of the speech, and it did not refer to the Capitol specifically.
Trump made an appearance on Fox News and declared he had "an obligation" to sue the corporation. The letter from Trump’s lawyers demanded compensation, an official apology and taking the documentary down.
The US President’s claims of defamation prompted Director-General Tim Davie and News Chief Deborah Turness to resign on November 9. BBC chairman Samir Shah apologised for the error and stated that the organisation agrees with how the footage might have suggested that Trump encouraged violent action. In his departing speech, Tim Davie stated that "Overall the BBC is delivering well, but there have been some mistakes made, and as director general I have to take ultimate responsibility," and encouraged BBC staff to fight for quality journalism.
Nethertheless, the organisation refused to pay compensation to Trump. As a response, the politicians threatened to sue BBC for up to $5 billion. It is worth noting that the BBC's annual income from the licence fee was £3.8bn last year. Trump doesn't want to accept that what happened in the Panorama programme might have been unintentional, further legal battle with the news provider is to be expected.