BBC will ask decide to dismiss President Trump’s £7.5billion lawsuit, claiming he had failed to point out doctored Panorama speech defamed him
The BBC will call for Donald Trump‘s $10billion (£7.5billion) lawsuit to be thrown out, claiming the US President has failed to prove he was defamed.
Mr Trump sued the BBC in December seeking $5billion (£4billion) in damages after claiming he was defamed in a BBC Panorama programme.
The US President is seeking a further $5billion damages over claims the programme violated Florida‘s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.
Panorama faced criticism over a 2024 episode for appearing to give the impression Mr Trump had encouraged his supporters to storm the Capitol building in 2021.
A clip from his speech on January 6 was spliced to show him saying: ‘We’re going to walk down to the Capitol… and I’ll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell.’
Mr Trump has described the programme as a ‘brazen attempt’ to influence the presidential election between him and his Democrat rival Kamala Harris in legal complaints.
In a filing in Miami’s court for the Southern District of Florida on Wednesday, the BBC said it intends to ask the judge to dismiss the multi-billion pound lawsuit.
The BBC will argue that the court lacks the jurisdiction to hear the case ‘as well as arguments regarding plaintiff’s failure to state a claim for defamation or for violations’ of the unfair trade practices law.
Lawyers for Mr Trump have not yet commented on the BBC’s filing.
The BBC has called for Donald Trump’s $10billion lawsuit to be thrown out after claiming the US President failed to prove he was defamed
Last week, Judge Roy K Altman ordered that the trial should begin on February 15, 2027.
The court order said: ‘This matter is set for trial during the Court’s two-week trial calendar beginning February 15, 2027. Counsel for all parties shall also appear at a calendar call at 1.45pm on February 9, 2027.
‘Unless instructed otherwise by subsequent order, the trial and all other proceedings in this case shall be conducted in Courtroom 12-4 at the Wilkie D. Ferguson, Jr US Courthouse, 400 N. Miami Avenue, Miami, Florida 33128.’
Court documents also list the plaintiff as President Donald J Trump, with the British Broadcasting Corporation et al as defendants.
The parties must select a mediator by March 3 and schedule a time, date and place for mediation.
The documents say: ‘If the parties cannot agree on a mediator, they shall notify the clerk in writing as soon as the impasse becomes clear, and the clerk shall designate a certified mediator on a blind rotation basis.’
The President’s lawyers have said ‘the BBC intentionally and maliciously sought to fully mislead its viewers around the world’.
The complaint from Mr Trump’s legal team has alleged there is ‘substantial evidence’ that demonstrates the BBC and its leadership ‘bore President Trump ill will, wanted him to lose the 2024 presidential election, and were dishonest in their coverage of him’, before the publication of the Panorama documentary.
The trial will take place at the Wilkie D Ferguson Jr US Courthouse in Miami (pictured in 2023)
The BBC last month filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, claiming the court lacks ‘personal jurisdiction’ over them, the venue is ‘improper’ and Mr Trump ‘failed to state a claim’.
The corporation also argued that it did not create, produce or broadcast the documentary in Florida and that Mr Trump’s claim that the documentary was available in the US on streaming service BritBox is not true.
It additionally claimed that the President failed to ‘plausibly allege’ the BBC published the documentary with ‘actual malice’, which public officials are required to show when filing suit for defamation in the US.
A BBC spokesman said: ‘As we have made clear previously, we will be defending this case. We are not going to make further comment on ongoing legal proceedings.’
