Donald Trump has threatened to sue the BBC for $1bn over edits the organisation made last year to one of his speeches.

The organisation has been engulfed in a crisis, forced to apologise on Monday after two of its most senior figures, including the director-general, resigned on Sunday night.

The defamation claim centres around a BBC Panorama documentary, which aired October 2024 and showed an edited speech made by Mr Trump before the attack on the US Capitol on 6 January 2021, in which he appeared to tell his supporters he was going to walk with them to the US Capitol and “fight like hell”.

In a letter dated 9 November, Florida-based lawyer Alejandro Brito set the BBC a deadline of 10pm UK time on Friday to respond, outlining three demands:

• Issue a “full and fair retraction” of the documentary
• Apologise immediately
• “Appropriately compensate” the US president

He told the BBC it needed to “comply” or face being sued for $1bn.

A BBC spokesperson said: “We will review the letter and respond directly in due course.”

‘Error of judgement’

On Monday, BBC chairman Samir Shah, one of the most senior figures still standing, apologised for the “error of judgement” in editing the video.

In a letter to the Culture, Media and Sport Committee of MPs, Mr Shah said Mr Trump’s speech was edited in a way that gave “the impression of a direct call for violent action”.

“The BBC would like to apologise for that error of judgement,” he added.

Director-general and head of BBC News resign

Concerns about the edited speech first came to light in a leaked memo from Michael Prescott, a former journalist and independent adviser to the BBC’s Editorial Guidelines and Standards Board.

As a result, BBC director-general Tim Davie and BBC News chief Deborah Turness announced their resignations on Sunday evening, saying in emails to staff that mistakes had been made.

Mr Davie will address an all-staff meeting on Tuesday. While on her way into the Broadcasting House on Monday morning, Ms Turness defended the corporation, rejecting accusations of institutional bias.

Downing St stands by BBC – but chancellor says ‘lessons to be learned’

A spokesperson for the prime minister told reporters on Monday that the BBC wasn’t corrupt or institutionally biased.

Instead, they said it had a “vital role” to play in the modern age, but needed to ensure it acted “to maintain trust and correct mistakes quickly when they occur”.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves also stood by the corporation, but said that “lessons do need to be learned”.

‘Nothing but an apology’

Veteran broadcaster and former BBC presenter Jonathan Dimbleby told Sky News, however, that the organisation owed the US president nothing more than an apology.

But former legal correspondent for the BBC Joshua Rozenberg also told Sky News that he believed the corporation would “very likely” consider settling with Trump.

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Mr Trump’s attack on the BBC is the latest in a long string of multibillion-dollar battles he’s engaged with various media institutions.

BBC chair Samir Shah has written a detailed letter to MPs following controversy over the editing of a speech by Donald Trump.

Following a backlash, both BBC director-general Tim Davie and BBC News chief executive Deborah Turness have both stepped down from their roles.

Mr Trump is also understood to have threatened the corporation with legal action over the editing together of two pieces of video from his speech on 6 January 2021 in the BBC’s flagship late-night news programme Panorama.

While the original programme received no complaints, Mr Shah confirmed in his letter that over 500 complaints had been received since a memo from former independent adviser to the BBC’s Editorial Guidelines and Standards Board, Michael Prescott, was leaked to The Daily Telegraph.

BBC resignations as Trump ‘threatens to sue’ – follow latest

In his memo, Mr Prescott detailed what he called “worrying systemic issues with the BBC’s coverage”, also discussing other coverage, including trans issues, and the war in Gaza.

Mr Prescott specifically mentioned Ms Turness and deputy director of BBC News, Jonathan Munro in his memo, calling them “defensive”.

An apology – by denial of a cover-up

In his four-page letter of response to the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Mr Shah said following “deliberation”, the board “accept that the way Mr Trump’s speech was edited did give the impression of a direct call for violent action”, calling it an “error of judgement”.

He also noted that some coverage of the memo leak, implied a list of stories and issues had been “uncovered”, which the BBC had sought to “bury”.

Mr Shah said that interpretation was “simply not true” and urged for a “sense of perspective” to be maintained when considering the “thousands of hours of outstanding journalism” the BBC produces each year.

Changes in leadership

The BBC chair also said the view that the BBC “has done nothing to tackle these problems” is “simply not true”.

Mr Shah admitted there were occasions “when the BBC gets things wrong” or “reporting requires more context or explanation”.

Read more:
Who is Michael Prescott?
Trump reacts to BBC resignations – and doesn’t hold back

Raising the point that the information relied on by Mr Prescott for his memo was the very research commissioned by the BBC’s Editorial Guidelines and Standards Committee (EGSC), he said the memo “did not present a full picture of the discussions, decisions and actions that were taken”.

Mr Shah detailed changes in leadership across the BBC Arabic team, as well as changes in World Service and BBC News – all of which he said would help tackle the issues raised.

So what is being done?

At the end of the letter Mr Shah committed to three actions:

• “The board will commit to revisiting each and every item set out in Michael Prescott’s note and take further action where appropriate. We will be transparent about the conclusions we reach, and the actions taken.”

• “Where we have put in measures already, in response to the original EGSC research, we will repeat those internal reviews to check the changes made are making material improvements to the output.”

• “Where we have already accepted that items fall short of our editorial standards, we will ensure that amendments to the relevant online stories are made where this was deemed appropriate.”

Mr Shah concluded by saying the BBC would “champion impartiality”, which he said was “more necessary now than ever before”, calling it the “sacred job of the BBC”.

Former Radio 1 DJ Tim Westwood has been granted conditional bail during a court appearance to face charges of rape and sexual assault.

The 68-year-old is accused of offences against seven women, including three indecent assaults at the BBC studios in the 1990s.

Westwood, wearing a dark grey shirt, spoke only to confirm his name, date of birth and address as he appeared in the dock at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday.

The former BBC DJ, who returned to the UK from Nigeria last week, was not required to enter pleas to any of the charges at this stage.

He has attended five police interviews voluntarily since the investigation into the alleged offences began, the court heard.

Westwood has previously denied all allegations of sexual misconduct made against him.

Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring granted bail on the condition that he does not contact prosecution witnesses, and set his next court appearance at Southwark Crown Court for 8 December.

The charges

Westwood is charged with four counts of rape, nine counts of indecent assault and two counts of sexual assault.

These include an allegation of rape against a woman at a hotel in London in 1996, one count of rape from the early 2000s at an address in London, and two counts of rape at an address in London in the 2010s.

He is further accused of four indecent assaults in London in the 1980s, three indecent assaults at the BBC in the 1990s, and two indecent assaults in the early 2000s.

The former DJ is also alleged to have sexually assaulted a woman at a nightclub in Stroud, Gloucestershire, in 2010, and faces a second sexual assault charge against a woman at a music festival in London in the 2010s.

Westwood began his broadcasting career in local radio before joining Capital Radio in the late 1980s.

He moved to the BBC in 1994, working on Radio 1 and Radio 1Xtra for almost 20 years.

After leaving the BBC in 2013, he then joined Capital Xtra, hosting a regular Saturday show where he was referred to as “The Big Dawg”, before he left the company in 2022.