Trump to sue BBC for $5 billion? US President issues new threat despite British broadcaster's apology

US President Donald Trump on Friday (local time) asserted that he would take legal action against the BBC over a misleading edit of his 6 January 2021 speech that sparked resignations and apologies from the British broadcaster.

"We'll sue them for anywhere between $1 billion and $5 billion, probably sometime next week," Trump told reporters on board Air Force One while on his way to Florida.

Trump also added that he had not yet spoken to UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer about the BBC issue, but added that he would call Starmer over the weekend.

Earlier, Trump had threatened to sue the British broadcaster for a whopping $1 billion.

Subsequently, the BBC acknowledged an error on its part and apologized to Trump, but maintained that it had not defamed the US President and rejected the basis for the lawsuit threat.

"While the BBC sincerely regrets the manner in which the video clip was edited, we strongly disagree there is a basis for a defamation claim," the British broadcaster said in a statement.

The BBC also said that chair Samir Shah had shot a personal letter to the White House “making clear that he and the corporation were sorry for the edit.”

Shah's letter, sent on Thursday, came after the BBC chair apologized to a British parliamentary oversight committee, calling the misleading edit an “error of judgement”.

The BBC's apology to Trump was also hailed by British culture minister Lisa Nandy, who told Times Radio, “They've rightly accepted that they didn't meet the highest standards and that's the basis on which the chairman of the board has offered this apology to the President of the United States.”

How did the misleading edit come to light?

The issue came to light after The Daily Telegraph published a memo written by former BBC adviser Michael Prescott, which alleged that a documentary aired on the Panorama news programme edited two separate parts of Trump’s speech together, creating the impression that he was directly inciting supporters to storm the US Capitol during the 6 January 2021 riots.

The report also highlighted shortcomings in the BBC's coverage of the Israel–Hamas conflict, as well as transgender issues.

As the news came to light and ignited a scandal, BBC's director general Tim Davie and head of news Deborah Turness both resigned.

Threat of $1 billion lawsuit

After the publication of the report, the US President's lawyer sent a letter to the British broadcaster demanding an apology for the harm the documentary had caused to Trump's image.

The letter had threatened to sue the BBC for $1 billion in damages if the British broadcaster failed to respond by Friday.