The BBC has asked a US court to throw out Donald Trump\u2019s $10bn (\u00a37.5bn) lawsuit over the way a documentary edited one of his speeches, warning that proceeding with the case would have a \u201cchilling effect\u201d on its reporting on the president.<\/p>\n
In papers filed to the Florida court dealing with the case, the BBC\u2019s US lawyers claimed Trump\u2019s reputation had not been damaged by the documentary, given it aired in the UK a week before his re-election.<\/p>\n
The broadcaster\u2019s lawyers also reiterated that the Panorama documentary, Trump: a Second Chance, was simply not published in the US, including Florida, meaning the court had no jurisdiction to hear the case.<\/p>\n
They also cited other cases to argue that defendants should not have to deal with \u201cexpensive yet groundless litigation\u201d, which restricted the ability to cover public figures.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the more so when [the] plaintiff is among the most powerful and high-profile individuals in the world, on whose activities the BBC reports every day,\u201d the BBC\u2019s case states.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe chilling effect is clear. Federal courts in Florida therefore frequently dismiss defective defamation claims like this one at the pleading stage.\u201d<\/p>\n
The corporation\u2019s lawyers cited a recent Trump lawsuit against CNN, which was dismissed as \u201cmeritless\u201d. The 2022 suit objected to the network\u2019s use of the phrase \u201cthe big lie\u201d<\/a>, which it used to refer to the president\u2019s claim that the 2020 election was \u201cstolen\u201d.<\/p>\n The BBC has already apologised personally to Trump for a 12-second clip in the 2024 documentary, which spliced together two parts of the speech made on 6 January 2021<\/a>. The clip suggested that Trump told the crowd: \u201cWe\u2019re going to walk down to the Capitol and I\u2019ll be there with you, and we fight. We fight like hell.\u201d<\/p>\n The words were taken from sections of his speech almost an hour apart. When the edit emerged at the end of last year, the BBC issued a retraction for \u201cunintentionally\u201d giving \u201cthe mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action\u201d.<\/p>\n However, the BBC said the documentary was not shown in the US or Florida.<\/p>\n Its case states: \u201cMore than a year later, even after being re-elected with the support of a sizeable majority of Florida voters, the president alleged that the documentary defamed him in Florida \u2013 where defendants never aired it.\u201d<\/p>\n