U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to take legal action against the BBC, accusing the broadcaster of misleading editing in a documentary that aired one of his speeches.
BBC chairman Samir Shah on Monday issued an apology for what he called an “error of judgment,” following the resignations of Director-General Tim Davie and News Chief Deborah Turness on Sunday. Both stepped down amid allegations of bias and manipulation in the editing of Trump’s January 6, 2021, address delivered shortly before his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol.
The hour-long documentary, Trump: A Second Chance?, aired as part of the BBC’s Panorama series just days before the 2024 U.S. presidential election. It reportedly stitched together three quotes from two separate parts of Trump’s speech delivered nearly an hour apart into what appeared to be one continuous statement urging supporters to march with him and “fight like hell.”
Critics noted that the edited version omitted a key section where Trump called for his supporters to protest “peacefully,” sparking widespread backlash and accusations of political interference within the broadcaster.
