Connect with us

Published

on

Donald Trump’s scowling mugshot will rank among the most famous of all time.

The former president joins celebrities like OJ Simpson, Khloe Kardashian, Hugh Grant and other famous faces who have had their picture taken by the authorities after run-ins with the law.

While in the UK mugshots are only released when a defendant is convicted, in the US they are published as soon as someone is “booked” – or formally indicted.

Read more:
Trump booked on election fraud charges
‘Badge of honour’ mugshot could inspire supporters
What are the charges Trump is facing?

Former U.S. President Donald Trump is shown in a police booking mugshot released by the Fulton County Sheriff's Office, after a Grand Jury brought back indictments against him and 18 of his allies in their attempt to overturn the state's 2020 election results in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., August 24, 2023. Fulton County Sheriff's Office/Handout via REUTERS  THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY.      TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
Image:
Former President Donald Trump’s mugshot

If a fugitive is on the run, however, police make an exception to the rule in a bid to bring them to justice.

Here Sky News looks at some of the most memorable police portraits, from celebrities and crime bosses to dictators.

Justin Bieber

Canadian teen pop singer Justin Bieber is shown in this combo of booking photos provided by the Miami-Dade Corrections and Rehabilitation Department in Miami, Florida January 23, 2014. Bieber was arrested in south Florida early Thursday on a drunk driving charge after he was caught drag racing on a main thoroughfare in a rented yellow Lamborghini sports car, according to police. REUTERS/Miami-Dade Corrections and Rehabilitation Department/Handout via Reuters (UNITED STATES - Tags: ENTERTAINMENT

Bieber was stopped by police in Miami, Florida in 2014 for drag racing in a yellow Lamborghini with his friend, the singer Khalil, who was driving a red Ferrari.

He was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol, marijuana and prescription drugs, as well as resisting arrest.

The then 19-year-old was driving “anywhere up to 55 to 60mph” in a 30mph zone, according to Miami Beach police chief Raymond Martinez. Mr Martinez said that he was a “little belligerent, using some choice words”.

Reports claimed he asked: “Why the f*** are you doing this?” and “What the f*** did I do? Why did you stop me? I ain’t got no f****** weapons.”

He was detained at 4.09am and his bail was set at $2,500 (£1,987). Eventually, he pleaded guilty to the lesser charges of driving without due care and attention and resisting arrest without violence.

OJ Simpson

This is the booking mug for O.J. Simpson, taken Friday, June 17, 1994, after he surrendered to authorities at his Brentwood estate in Los Angeles.  Simpson was charged with two counts of murder in connection with the June 12, 1994 slayings of his ex-wife, Nicole, and acquaintance Ronald Goldman. (AP Photo/Los Angeles Police Department)
Image:
Pic: AP

The former NFL star’s dramatic arrest and trial for the alleged murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman are among the most memorable moments in US TV history.

When the pair were found stabbed to death outside Ms Brown’s home in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles, Simpson was an immediate person of interest, having been accused of domestic violence a few years before.

He agreed, with his lawyers, to turn himself in five days after the deaths – by 11am on 17 June 1994 – but failed to do so.

Instead, he was chased by police in a white Ford Bronco, which was driven by his former teammate and friend Al Cowlings. Cowlings claimed he was threatening to shoot himself in the head with a pistol unless he was taken home.

Helicopter footage of the chase was broadcast live on TV to around 95 million people – many of whom had been watching the NBA basketball finals until scheduling was interrupted.

In 1995, he was found not guilty of both murders following the ‘trial of the century’, which was broadcast for TV.

This is one of several mugshots of Simpson.

He was convicted again in 2008, this time for robbery and kidnap, as part of a dispute over some of his sporting memorabilia at a Las Vegas casino hotel.

He served nine years in a Nevada prison and was released on parole in 2017.

Hugh Grant

Hugh Grant

Grant described his 1995 arrest for “lewd conduct in a public place” in Los Angeles as an “abominable thing” and a “moment of insanity”.

It came while he was in the US promoting the film Nine Months. On 27 June he was driving down Hollywood’s Sunset Strip when he decided to pick up a sex worker.

Divine Brown, real name Estella Marie Thompson, then performed oral sex on him inside the car in a nearby street, where the pair were picked up by police.

Grant, who had shot to fame for his lead role in Four Weddings and a Funeral, looked sheepish and embarrassed in his mugshot.

He was in a long-term relationship with fellow actor and model Liz Hurley, who said she “felt like she’d been shot” when she heard the news.

In a statement, Grant said: “Last night I did something completely insane. I have hurt people I love and embarrassed people I work with. For both things I am more sorry than I can ever possibly say.”

He did not attend his sentencing but was ordered to pay a fine of $1,000 (£795) and go on an AIDS education programme in his absence.

Brown, who had violated her probation for previous prostitution charges, was given a suspended 180-day prison sentence.

She was reportedly paid $100,000 (£79,500) by the now-defunct News of the World for her story, which saw her claim that Grant had told her: “I always wanted to sleep with a black woman. That’s my fantasy.”

Paris Hilton

Socialite Paris Hilton is pictured in this police booking photograph released on August 28, 2010 by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. Hilton has been released by Las Vegas police after her arrest for possessing cocaine Friday night, her lawyer said Saturday. REUTERS/Las Vegas Metropolitian Police/Handout (UNITED STATES - Tags: ENTERTAINMENT CRIME LAW HEADSHOT) FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. I

Seven years after she first shot to notoriety for her leaked sex tape ‘A Night in Paris’, Hilton was arrested for suspected cocaine possession.

The then 29-year-old socialite was detained after a small amount of the drug fell out of her handbag at the Wynn Las Vegas Hotel in Nevada.

She told arresting officers the rolling papers, cash, credit cards and prescription asthma medication that also fell out were hers – but the cocaine belonged to an unidentified friend.

According to Las Vegas police lieutenant Dennis Flynn’s report, she claimed she thought the drug was gum.

She pleaded guilty to two misdemeanour charges of drug possession and obstructing a police officer and was sentenced to a year’s probation, 200 hours of community service and an intensive substance abuse programme.

Hilton, who had already been jailed for 45 days for driving under the influence and alcohol, and tried for marijuana possession, said she was embarrassed to have been photographed by so many people from inside the police car.

Khloe Kardashian

Khloe Kardashian
Pic:Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
Image:
Pic: Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department

Kardashian was first arrested in Los Angeles in 2007 after she was pulled over by police, breathalysed and found to be over the legal alcohol limit.

She was ordered to carry out community service and attend an alcohol education course.

While she managed to attend some sessions, she skipped a few due to her busy work schedule.

The parole violation saw her hand herself in to the Los Angeles County jail the following year.

Before she surrendered, her mother Kris Jenner was famously captured scolding her sister Kim on their reality TV show Keeping Up With The Kardashians, saying: “Kim, would you stop taking pictures of yourself, your sister is going to jail.”

She was sentenced to 30 days in jail but only served 30 hours due to overcrowding at the facility.

The reality TV star was also ordered to complete another alcohol treatment plan.

Lindsay Lohan

Actress Lindsay Lohan is pictured in this booking photograph released November 15, 2007 by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Lohan checked in and out of jail on Thursday, spending just 84 minutes behind bars for a drunken driving and cocaine-possession conviction, Los Angeles police said. REUTERS/Los Angeles County Sheriff Dept./Handout (UNITED STATES). EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS.

In the years after she shot to fame for her leading roles in Mean Girls and Freaky Friday, Lohan was arrested and jailed several times.

In 2007 she pleaded guilty to a misdemeanour of cocaine use and driving under the influence and was sentenced to a day in prison – but only served just over an hour.

A warrant was put out for her arrest in 2010 after she failed to appear in court for a driving under the influence (DUI) progress hearing.

Just a few months later she was sentenced to 90 days in jail for missing court-ordered counselling sessions – but only served two weeks due to prison overcrowding.

She spent another day behind bars after failing a drugs test in September 2010.

Another jail spell came in 2011 after she pleaded no contest to stealing a necklace.

Although she was arrested for an alleged assault in New York in 2012 she was never prosecuted.

Her final run-in with the law enforcement came in March 2013, which ended in her spending time in rehab having pleaded no contest to reckless driving and lying to police after she crashed her car.

In 2015 her probation ended and she was finally free of court orders for the first time in eight years. Since then she has stayed out of trouble and restarted her acting career.

‘Hot Felon’ Jeremy Meeks

Stockton Police Department photo shows Jeremy Meeks, 30, arrested on June 18, 2014 in a gang crackdown in a crime-ridden area of Stockton, California. The mugshot of Meeks, a convicted felon, went viral on a police Facebook page this week, making him an instant celebrity with Web users who have called him "handsome" and clicked "like" on his picture more than 64,000 times.  REUTERS/Stockton Police/Handout via Reuters  (UNITED STATES - Tags: CRIME LAW TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)..ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS PICTURE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. REUTERS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS IMAGE. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. THIS PICTURE IS DISTRIBUTED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

Meeks shot to internet fame in 2014 after police released his mugshot online.

Convictions for robbery and assaulting a 16-year-old boy meant he had already spent time in prison, where he was recruited by the North Side Gangster Crips.

But when he was arrested in 2014 in a California gang sweep known as Operation Ceasefire, Stockton Police published his mugshot on their Facebook page, which quickly racked up thousands of likes and earned him the nickname ‘Hot Felon’.

While behind bars for firearm possession and grand theft at the Mendota Federal Correctional Institution, he caught the attention of various modelling agencies.

On his release in 2016, he was signed and began a career in fashion modelling.

He entered a relationship with Topshop heiress Chloe Green, with whom he is now believed to have a child.

Meeks also has a child with his ex-wife Melissa Meeks, who he was married to between 2008 and 2018.

Frank Sinatra

Sinatra was arrested in his hometown of Hoboken, New Jersey on the charge of “seduction” in 1938.

According to the FBI report: “He did then and there have sexual intercourse with the complainant, who was then and there a single female of good repute.”

He was released on bail for $1,500 (£1,192) but re-arrested a month later when police discovered the woman was married.

Sinatra was also one year into his marriage to his first wife Nancy Barbato.

The second charge of adultery was eventually dropped, with the singer only spending a few hours in jail.

Al Capone

U.S. gangster Al Capone has his photo taken while in custody in Philadelphia, May 18, 1929. Capone and his bodyguard were arrested in Philadelphia for carrying concealed deadly weapons on May 17 and were sentenced to terms of one year each within 16 hours of arrest. (AP Photo)
Image:
Pic: AP

One of the most notorious gangsters in US history, Al Capone began his criminal career as a teenager after becoming a member of the Five Points Gang.

He got the nickname Scarface following an altercation with his young rival Frank Gallucio over comments he made about his sister. While he was left with a cut on his left cheek, Gallucio’s actions ultimately saw Capone shoot him dead.

While still in New York, he became a bouncer for various organised crime premises but moved to Chicago to become joint boss of the Chicago Outfit, which illegally supplied alcohol during the Prohibition era.

He spent seven years as head of the syndicate before his intense conflict with the rival North Side Gang left police determined to put him in jail.

Eventually, he was charged with 22 counts of tax evasion and was convicted on five of them in 1931.

He was sentenced to 11 years in a federal prison but was released after eight having showed signs of neurosyphilis. He suffered a stroke and died of a heart attack at the age of 48 in 1947.

Joseph Stalin

Joseph Stalin

Like his predecessor Vladimir Lenin, Russian dictator Joseph Stalin was arrested several times in his younger days and forced into internal exile in Siberia.

Tsarist authorities would repeatedly throw him in prison and banish him from places like Moscow and St Petersburg in a bid to hold onto power – but he often escaped via Baku, Azerbaijan, to return to his ‘illegal work’.

Stalin was exiled to Siberia for the final time in 1913 and remained there until the Russian revolution and the end of the empire in 1917.

This mugshot comes from 1911 – when he was in his early 30s.

During his time as leader of the USSR – from 1924 until his death in 1953 – he oversaw the execution of more than a million of his own citizens.

War crime trials of various Baltic leaders in the 1990s and early 2000s led to the prosecution of some Russian leaders for the crimes they committed during and after the Second World War. Most cases were carried out in their absence.

Vladimir Putin recognises the “horrors of Stalinism” but claims he has been “excessively demonised” by Russia’s enemies.

Bill Gates

Bill Gates was photographed by the Albuquerque, New Mexico police in 1977 after he got a speeding ticket and forgot his license

Gates was arrested for the first time in 1975 for being caught speeding and driving without a licence in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

But his famous mugshot comes from his second arrest two years later.

On 13 December 1977 police pulled him over for failing to stop at a stop sign and driving without a licence again.

The following year he got three speeding fines for going too fast in his Porsche 911.

Gates co-founded Microsoft in 1975, eventually becoming the richest person on Earth – according to Forbes – between 1995 and 2017 – when he was overtaken by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

Mick Jagger

Mick Jagger was arrested by Police for drug use during a party at guitarist Keith Richards' home

Jagger was arrested with his Rolling Stones bandmate Keith Richards at Richards’ Sussex countryside cottage in February 1967.

At the time, police were keen to crack down on celebrities taking drugs and began campaigns against various bands including the Stones, The Who and Cream.

Tabloid newspapers, such as the now-defunct News of the World, teamed up with Scotland Yard to help apprehend certain stars.

Jagger was in the process of suing the paper for libel over stories they published about him and his then girlfriend Marianne Faithful, when they swooped on Richards’ home.

After raiding the Redlands estate in Sussex, they arrested Richards for cannabis possession and Jagger for Amphetamines.

They were both convicted and spent a night in prison – but had the charges overturned on appeal.

After their names were cleared, there was widespread condemnation of the police for deciding to prosecute them in the first place.

David Bowie

David Bowie mugshot after he was arrested along with Iggy Pop and another person following a performance in Rochester, New York on 21 March 1976

Like Jagger, Bowie’s police mugshot was stylish. Also like him, he was arrested on drugs charges – but in the US and for marijuana possession.

The arrest happened in Rochester, New York State, in the early hours of 21 May 1976 after a performance at the city’s community war memorial.

Police officers raided his and Iggy Pop’s hotel room and found around 170g of marijuana.

They were taken in with two others, held for three hours and released on bail for $2,000 (£1,500).

Both Bowie and Iggy Pop pleaded not guilty but the charges were eventually dropped after a grand jury decided not to indict them.

Wayne Rooney

English soccer player Wayne Rooney is shown in this booking photo provided January 6, 2019.  Rooney was arrested at Dulles Airport outside Washington D.C., for public intoxication and booked into the Loudoun County Adult Detention Center on December 16, 2018.   Loudoun County Sheriff's Office/Handout via REUTERS. ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY.

Rooney has been arrested on both sides of the Atlantic, first for public intoxication at the airport in Washington DC while he was playing in the States for DC United in 2018.

According to the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office: “He was booked into the Loudoun County Adult Detention Centre on December 16 2018, on a charge of public intoxication stemming from an arrest by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Police (MWAA).

“He was later released on a personal recognizance bond.”

He was due to appear in court on 24 January – but avoided it with a $25 (£20) fine and paying $91 (£72) in court costs.

He was arrested for being three times over the legal drink-drive limit in Wilmslow, Cheshire the year before.

The former Manchester United star admitted “letting his family down” after being caught at the wheel of another woman’s Volkswagen Beetle at 2am on 1 September 2017.

He appeared at Stockport Magistrates Court and was fined the equivalent of two weeks’ salary – then £320,000 at Everton – and banned from driving for two years.

50 Cent

Before his hip-hop career, Curtis Jackson, now known as 50 Cent, was a drug dealer in his native Queens, New York City.

Having started out aged just 12, he was arrested for direct sale of a controlled substance after he was caught trying to sell four vials of crack cocaine to an undercover police officer in June 1994.

Weeks later, in August, police raided his home to find heroin, crack cocaine and a starter pistol.

He was sentenced to between three and nine years in prison, but as his offences were non-violent, he had the option to undergo the SHOCK programme instead.

The military-style boot camp for first-time offenders saw him out in just six months.

Soon after he was introduced to hip-hop executives – and the rest became music history.

Continue Reading

US

Marjorie Taylor Greene says she’s received threats over Trump feud

Published

on

By

Marjorie Taylor Greene says she's received threats over Trump feud

Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene says she’s facing threats following a barrage of personal criticism from US President Donald Trump on social media.

The former MAGA ally posted on X, saying she had been contacted by private security firms “with warnings for my safety as a hotbed of threats against me are being fueled and egged on by the most powerful man in the world”.

She went on: “As a woman, I take threats from men seriously.

“I now have a small understanding of the fear and pressure the women, who are victims of Jeffrey Epstein and his cabal, must feel.

“As a Republican, who overwhelmingly votes for President Trump’s bills and agenda, his aggression against me, which also fuels the venomous nature of his radical internet trolls (many of whom are paid), this is completely shocking to everyone.”

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

‘MAGA meltdown going on because of Epstein’

Calling her “wacky,” a “RINO” (Republican In Name Only) and swapping her surname from Greene to “Brown” (“Green grass turns Brown when it begins to ROT!”), Donald Trump rescinded his support for the Georgia representative and suggested he could back a primary challenger against her.

Ms Greene claims the president’s “aggressive rhetoric” is in retaliation for her support for releasing files about disgraced paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

After the US government shutdown ended, a petition to vote on the full release of the files about Epstein received enough signatures – including that of Ms Greene – to bring it to a vote in the House of Representatives.

Ms Greene claimed text messages she sent to Mr Trump over the Epstein files “sent him over the edge,” writing on social media: “Of course he’s coming after me hard to make an example to scare all the other Republicans before next week’s vote to release the Epstein files.”

She went on: “It’s astonishing really, how hard he’s fighting to stop the Epstein files from coming out that he actually goes to this level.”

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Trump rebukes MAGA ally over foreign policy

High-profile figures, including Mr Trump, have been referenced in some of the documents.

The White House has said the “selectively leaked emails” were an attempt to “create a fake narrative to smear President Trump”, who has consistently denied any involvement or knowledge about Epstein’s sex trafficking operation.

Mr Trump has called the Epstein files a “hoax” created by the Democrats to “deflect” from the shutdown.

Watch Sky’s Martha Kelner clash with Taylor Greene earlier this year…

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Marjorie Taylor Greene clashes with Sky correspondent

In another post on X, Ms Greene wrote: “I never thought that fighting to release the Epstein files, defending women who were victims of rape, and fighting to expose the web of rich powerful elites would have caused this, but here we are.

“And it truly speaks for itself. There needs to be a new way forward.”

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

The new Epstein files: The key takeaways

Read more on Jeffrey Epstein:
Ghislaine Maxwell ‘wants Trump to commute sentence’
What Epstein’s right-hand woman said about Trump and Andrew

Epstein took his own life in prison in 2019 while awaiting a trial for sex trafficking charges and was accused of running a “vast network” of underage girls for sex. He pleaded not guilty.

Following a conviction for soliciting prostitution from a minor in 2008, he was registered as a sex offender.

Mr Trump has consistently denied knowledge of Epstein’s crimes.

Continue Reading

US

Donald Trump confirms he will sue the BBC over Panorama edit – despite broadcaster’s apology

Published

on

By

Donald Trump confirms he will sue the BBC over Panorama edit - despite broadcaster's apology

Donald Trump has said he will sue the BBC for between $1bn and $5bn over the editing of his speech on Panorama.

The US president confirmed he would be taking legal action against the broadcaster while on Air Force One overnight on Saturday.

“We’ll sue them. We’ll sue them for anywhere between a billion (£792m) and five billion dollars (£3.79bn), probably sometime next week,” he told reporters.

“We have to do it, they’ve even admitted that they cheated. Not that they couldn’t have not done that. They cheated. They changed the words coming out of my mouth.”

Mr Trump then told reporters he would discuss the matter with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer over the weekend, and claimed “the people of the UK are very angry about what happened… because it shows the BBC is fake news”.

Separately, Mr Trump told GB News: “I’m not looking to get into lawsuits, but I think I have an obligation to do it.

“This was so egregious. If you don’t do it, you don’t stop it from happening again with other people.”

More on Bbc

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

BBC crisis: How did it happen?

The Daily Telegraph reported earlier this month that an internal memo raised concerns about the BBC’s editing of a speech made by Mr Trump on 6 January 2021, just before a mob rioted at the US Capitol building, on the news programme.

The concerns regard clips spliced together from sections of the president’s speech to make it appear he told supporters he was going to walk to the US Capitol with them to “fight like hell” in the documentary Trump: A Second Chance?, which was broadcast by the BBC the week before last year’s US election.

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

‘No basis for defamation claim’

On Thursday, the broadcaster officially apologised to the president and added that it was an “error of judgement” and the programme will “not be broadcast again in this form on any BBC platforms”.

A spokesperson said that “the BBC sincerely regrets the manner in which the video clip was edited,” but they also added that “we strongly disagree there is a basis for a defamation claim”.

Earlier this week, Mr Trump’s lawyers threatened to sue the BBC for $1bn unless it apologised, retracted the clip, and compensated him.

The US president said he would sue the broadcaster for between $1bn and $5bn. File pic: PA
Image:
The US president said he would sue the broadcaster for between $1bn and $5bn. File pic: PA

Legal challenges

But legal experts have said that Mr Trump would face challenges taking the case to court in the UK or the US.

The deadline to bring the case to UK courts, where defamation damages rarely exceed £100,000 ($132,000), has already expired because the documentary aired in October 2024, which is more than one year.

Also because the documentary was not shown in the US, it would be hard to show that Americans thought less of the president because of a programme they could not watch.

Read more from Sky News:
Key findings in 20,000 pages of documents in the Epstein files

Banksy art theft lands burglar with 13-month prison sentence

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Sky’s Katie Spencer on what BBC bosses told staff on call over Trump row

Newsnight allegations

The BBC has said it was looking into fresh allegations, published in The Telegraph, that its Newsnight show also selectively edited footage of the same speech in a report broadcast in June 2022.

A BBC spokesperson said: “The BBC holds itself to the highest editorial standards. This matter has been brought to our attention and we are now looking into it.”

Continue Reading

US

Trump to push ahead with BBC lawsuit: Three experts on why he might struggle to win

Published

on

By

Trump to push ahead with BBC lawsuit: Three experts on why he might struggle to win

Donald Trump has confirmed he plans to sue the BBC for between $1bn and $5bn over the editing of his speech in a Panorama news programme.

The corporation said it was an “error of judgement” to splice two sections of his speech together, and the programme will “not be broadcast again in this form on any BBC platforms”.

“We have to do it, they’ve even admitted that they cheated,” the US president told reporters overnight on Saturday.

“Not that they couldn’t have not done that. They cheated. They changed the words coming out of my mouth.”

However, the lawsuit will not be easy, according to three experts who have spoken to Sky News.

“Filing a lawsuit is easy,” said Mark Stevens, media law solicitor at Howard Kennedy, to Sky presenter Samantha Washington.

“Winning one is, in this case, like trying to lasso a tornado: technically possible, but you’re going to need more than a cowboy hat.”

So why would this case be so hard to win?

Where did the damage occur?

The Panorama episode was not aired in the US, which may make Mr Trump’s case harder.

“For a libel claim to succeed, harm must occur where the case is brought,” said Mr Stevens.

“It’s hard to argue [for] that reputational damage in a jurisdiction where the content wasn’t aired.”

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

BBC crisis: How did it happen?

The president will also have to show that his reputation suffered actual harm.

“But his reputation was pretty damaged on this issue before,” said Mr Stevens.

“There have been judicial findings, congressional hearings, global media coverage around 6 January. Laying that responsibility for any further harm at the door of the BBC seems pretty tenuous.”

Was the mistake malicious?

In order to sue someone for libel in the US, you have to prove they did it on purpose – or with ‘malicious intent’.

That might be hard to prove, according to Alan Rusbridger, editor of Prospect magazine and former editor-in-chief of the Guardian.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

‘Trump suing BBC is just noise and bluster’

“I just don’t think that he can do that,” he said.

Since 1964, US public officials have had to prove that what was said against them was made with “knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard for the truth”.

“The reason for that, when the Supreme Court passed this in 1964, is the chilling effect on journalism,” said Mr Rusbridger.

“If a journalist makes a mistake, [and] this clearly was a mistake, if that ends up with their employers having to pay $1bn, $2bn, $3bn, that would be a dreadful chill on journalism.

“Unless Trump can prove that whoever this was who was editing this film did it with malice, the case is open and shut.”

Read more US news:
‘Earthquake in Team MAGA’ as Trump ally turns enemy
Prison staff fired after leaking Maxwell’s emails, says lawyer

Is he suing for too much money?

Mr Trump says he’s going to sue for between $1bn and $5bn, figures former BBC legal correspondent Clive Coleman described as “very fanciful”.

“That, I think, is very fanciful because he will have to show that he has suffered billions of dollars worth of reputational damage.

“We know that this was back in 2020 when the speech was made. He went on to be successful in business and, of course, to be re-elected as US president.”

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

‘Trump faces some really big hurdles’ in suing BBC

However, Mr Coleman did suggest the BBC should try to “bring this to an end as speedily as possible”.

“Litigation is always a commercial decision and it’s a reputational decision,” he said.

“The legal processes towards a court case are long and arduous and this is going to blow up in the news pretty regularly between now and then.”

Other news organisations facing litigation by Mr Trump have settled out of court for “sums like $15m, $16m”, according to Mr Coleman.

Continue Reading

Trending