President Trump turns legal guns toward the BBC

The BBC is under fire for editing Trump's January 6 speech in a documentary.

By Mary Kate Carr | November 10, 2025 | 11:51am

Screenshot: NBC News/YouTube

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President Trump turns legal guns toward the BBC

President Donald Trump has seen some success bullying domestic news outlets; now, he turns his attention abroad. The British Broadcasting Corporation is the latest target of his ire, as a scandal has kicked up over the edit of a 2024 Panorama documentary about the January 6 riots at the Capitol. Chief executive of BBC News, Deborah Turness, and the director general, Tim Davie, have both resigned after a leaked memo from an external advisor criticized various news coverage, including the Panorama edit. Now, Trump has sent a letter to the BBC threatening legal action over the issue, per Deadline.

The edit in question was done to Trump’s speech on January 6. In the doc, he appears to say:

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“We’re gonna walk down to the Capitol and I’ll be there with you and we fight. We fight like hell, and if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not gonna have a country anymore.”

But in the actual, full speech, Trump said:

“We’re gonna walk down, and I’ll be there with you, we’re gonna walk down, we’re gonna walk down any one you want but I think right here, we’re gonna walk down to the Capitol and we’re gonna cheer on our brave senators and congressmen.”

Then, much later in the speech, he said:

“Something’s wrong here, something’s really wrong, can’t have happened, and we fight. We fight like hell, and if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not gonna have a country anymore.”

The BBC has stated that it did not intentionally mislead viewers with the truncated edit. On Monday, BBC chair Samir Shah issued an apology, calling the edit an “error of judgment.” He said that the clip was meant “to convey the message of the speech made by President Trump so that Panorama’s audience could better understand how it had been received by President Trump’s supporters.” Trump continues to push conspiracy theories about the 2020 election being rigged, and pardoned rioters who stormed the Capitol that day.

Nevertheless, many of Trump’s supporters and members of his administration, like Karoline Leavitt, have expressed outrage toward the BBC over the situation. Trump himself posted on Truth Social, saying, “The TOP people in the BBC, including TIM DAVIE, the BOSS, are all quitting/FIRED, because they were caught ‘doctoring’ my very good (PERFECT!) speech of January 6th. Thank you to The Telegraph for exposing these Corrupt ‘Journalists.'” (There have only been two high-profile resignations, and no reported firings.) “These are very dishonest people who tried to step on the scales of a Presidential Election. On top of everything else, they are from a Foreign Country, one that many consider our Number One Ally. What a terrible thing for Democracy!”

Given that Trump is historically litigious—having strong-armed Disney and Paramount into pricey settlements—it comes as no surprise that he should now threaten the BBC. Per Deadline, the broadcaster confirmed the legal missive was received and a spokeswoman said: “We will review the letter and respond directly in due course.”