Trump touts legal victory over BBC as judge says his lawsuit against British broadcaster can proceed

President Donald Trump celebrated a legal victory Tuesday as a judge ruled his $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the British Broadcasting Corporation can proceed. The decision stems from a BBC documentary that altered footage of Trump's January 6 speech, creating a misleading impression of his remarks to supporters.

Trump took to Truth Social to trumpet the ruling, calling it "A Huge Victory against Fake News BBC, a terrible abuser of the truth." He highlighted Judge Kuntz's statement that "the news entity created the story" by editing the video to make it appear as though Trump made a statement he never made.

Judge's Ruling

In his ruling, Judge Kuntz criticized the BBC's editing of the 2024 "Panorama" documentary at the center of the lawsuit, suggesting the broadcaster "knew or should have known that the segment they were creating would not and could not have been a truthful statement. The judge noted that this was not trimming around the edges but creating something different than what was stated in the speech." The BBC had the entire speech available for nearly three years before the documentary aired.

Documentary Controversy

Trump filed the lawsuit after the BBC documentary distorted his comments from his January 6 speech. Critics claim the documentary was misleading because it omitted Trump's call for supporters to protest peacefully, splicing together separate portions of his address to create a false impression. The documentary showed Trump saying, "We're going to walk down to the Capitol. And I'll be there with you. And we fight — we fight like hell." In reality, Trump's full statement was different and occurred 54 minutes before he called on supporters to "fight like hell" for election integrity.

The BBC previously apologized for the misleading edit and removed the program from its platforms. Despite the apology, the broadcaster has maintained that the edit does not constitute defamation. The controversy led to the resignations of then-BBC News CEO Deborah Turness and then-BBC Director-General Tim Davie.

Legal Proceedings

While allowing the defamation claim to proceed, Judge Kuntz dismissed Trump's second count alleging the BBC documentary violated Florida's Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act (FDUTPA), finding that the documentary did not qualify as "commercial speech" under the law. The judge gave the BBC until December 1 to respond to the remaining defamation claim.

In a separate statement, a BBC spokesperson said the broadcaster was surprised by the ruling but respected the court's authority and remained confident in its legal position. Meanwhile, a magistrate judge previously ruled in the BBC's favor in October, ordering Trump to give a deposition by December 11 unless the discovery deadline is extended beyond December 18.