Trump Sues BBC for $10 Billion, Cites FCC Letters
President Donald Trump's $10 billion private lawsuit against the BBC -- filed Monday over a documentary’s portrayal of his Jan. 6, 2021, speech outside the U.S. Capitol -- repeatedly cited letters from FCC Chairman Brendan Carr to PBS.
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The complaint at the U.S. District Court for Southern Florida said the BBC's Panorama documentary about the attack on the Capitol “intentionally and maliciously sought to fully mislead its viewers around the world by splicing together two entirely separate parts of President Trump’s speech.” The BBC “intentionally used the Panorama Documentary to maliciously, falsely, and defamatorily make it appear that President Trump explicitly called for violent action and rioting.” The BBC has apologized for the documentary’s editing but has “made no showing of actual remorse for its wrongdoing nor meaningful institutional changes to prevent future journalistic abuses,” the complaint said.
The lawsuit repeatedly cited letters that Carr sent to PBS and NPR in November requesting information on whether the documentary aired in the U.S. PBS has said it didn’t air on American PBS stations, and the complaint didn't allege that it did. Instead, it referenced language in Carr’s letters condemning the documentary and cited them as evidence that the BBC does business in Florida, within the court’s jurisdiction. The complaint said the documentary was shown a week before the 2024 presidential election in an attempt to influence the outcome and pointed to sales of VPNs in Florida as evidence that voters there could have watched it via the BBC’s streaming service, even though geolocking prevented U.S. subscribers from accessing it.
Trump and Carr were previously accused of working in concert (see 2508270067) to force a settlement in Trump’s private lawsuit against CBS, which was settled for $16 million shortly before the FCC approved the sale of CBS’ parent, Paramount. Carr has repeatedly said the FCC’s review of Skydance/Paramount and Trump’s lawsuit weren’t connected. The chairman sent the query letters to the BBC less than a week after Trump threatened the BBC with a lawsuit over the documentary.