Trump is suing the BBC for $10 billion, accusing it of deceptive defamatory practices in editing his January 6 speech.

Washington (AFP) – US President Donald Trump filed a lawsuit on Monday seeking $10 billion in damages from the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), accusing the BBC of defamation as well as deceptive and unfair business practices.

The 33-page suit accuses the BBC of broadcasting a “false, defamatory, deceptive, insulting, inflammatory and malicious portrayal of President Trump,” calling it a “brazen attempt to interfere and influence” the 2024 US presidential election.

It accused the BBC of “linking two completely separate parts of President Trump’s speech on January 6, 2021” in order to “deliberately distort the meaning of what President Trump said.”

The lawsuit, filed in a Florida court, seeks $5 billion in damages for defamation and $5 billion for unfair trade practices.

The BBC said it would defend the case.

“We will not be commenting further on the ongoing legal proceedings,” she said in a statement.

The broadcaster last month apologized to Trump for editing the January 6 speech. But the publicly funded BBC rejected claims it had defamed him, after Trump threatened legal action.

BBC Chairman Samir Shah described what happened as an “error in judgement,” which led to the resignation of the BBC’s chief executive and head of news.

The speech came before some Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol as Congress prepared to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election, which Trump falsely claimed was stolen from him.

He watches: BBC under scrutiny for editing Trump’s January 6 speech

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) had broadcast the hour-long documentary entitled “Trump: A Second Chance?” — days before the 2024 US presidential election. I’ve combined three quotes from two sections of a 2021 speech, delivered about an hour apart, into what appears to be a single quote in which Trump urged his supporters to go with him and “fight like hell.” Among the parts that were cut was a section in which Trump said he wanted his supporters to demonstrate peacefully.

Trump said earlier Monday that he would sue the BBC “because they put words in my mouth.”

“They put terrible words in my mouth about January 6th that I didn’t say, and they’re beautiful words that I said, right?” The president said casually during an appearance in the Oval Office. “They’re beautiful words, they talk about patriotism and all the good things you said. They didn’t say that, but they put terrible words in them.”

The president’s lawsuit was filed in Florida. The deadlines for submitting the case to British courts expired more than a year ago.

Legal experts have raised potential challenges to a case in the United States given that the documentary has not been shown in the country.

The lawsuit claims that people in the US can watch the BBC’s original content, including the “Panorama” series, which included the documentary, using the BritBox streaming platform or a virtual private network service.

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), which was founded 103 years ago, is a national corporation that is funded through an annual license fee of 174.50 pounds ($230) paid by each household that watches live television or BBC content. The organization is committed under the terms of its charter to be neutral, and typically faces particularly intense scrutiny and criticism from conservatives and liberals.