MIAMI — Donald Trump filed a $10 billion defamation lawsuit against a U.K. public broadcaster. The lawsuit addresses a documentary program broadcast in October 2024, which featured an edited version of a speech delivered by Trump on January 6, 2021, prior to the U.S. Capitol riots.
The broadcaster combined two separate portions of the January 2021 speech that were delivered nearly one hour apart. The broadcaster later retracted the edited segment and issued an apology, stating it would not be broadcast again. Legal discovery documents regarding the case were filed in Miami, Florida, in May.
The defendant broadcaster filed a motion in March seeking dismissal of the defamation lawsuit. In the motion, legal representatives argued that a Florida court lacks jurisdiction because the program was not broadcast within the United States. The defendant also argued that proceeding with the lawsuit would negatively impact journalistic operations. The legal motion to dismiss the lawsuit remains pending.
The defendant broadcaster requested financial records for the Donald J Trump Revocable Trust to verify claims of financial and reputational harm. Trump's legal team objected to this document request in court filings, stating it targeted unrelated entities and would require producing tens of thousands of records within 30 days. Court filings indicated that Trump's legal counsel submitted 503 document requests to the defendant, and the defendant provided approximately 45,000 pages of documents in response. Trump's legal team provided zero documents to the defendant at the time of the May filings. Reports indicated that the Trump legal team attempted to delay the proceedings and requested a judicial reassignment.
A legal spokesperson said, "The organization intentionally and maliciously defamed the president by distorting and manipulating his speech. No amount of attempted legal manoeuvres can change that fact. President Trump will continue to hold accountable the broadcaster and all those who traffick in fake news." Four individuals died on January 6, 2021, and five law enforcement officers died following the event.
No independent assessment of Donald Trump’s claims was available.