The BBC's apology wasn't enough for Donald Trump. The US president is unwavering and has announced he will file a lawsuit next week, seeking damages ranging from $1 billion to $5 billion for the misleading editing of his January 6, 2001, speech, the day of the Capitol Hill assault that ultimately cost the tycoon his second impeachment.
"We have to do this," Trump said without hesitation, intending to discuss the British broadcaster's "scandal" directly with Prime Minister Keir Starmer over the weekend. Trump had previously expressed the possibility that an apology would be sufficient. But ultimately, advised by his lawyers, he decided to take a hard line, thus taking his battle against fake media overseas.
The figure he's aiming for with the BBC is particularly high, considering that last year the broadcaster's annual license fee revenue was £3.8 billion. Regardless of the outcome of the proceedings, the BBC faces a dire outcome, explained Sir Craig Oliver, former network director for the British public service broadcaster and then right-hand man for communications in Downing Street for former Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron.
The alternatives, in fact, are to spend "public money either to cover legal costs or to seek an out-of-court settlement," Oliver emphasized, adding that a potential plea bargain would also represent a step back from the approach pursued to date. The BBC admitted to tampering with the president's speech on the Panorama program by editing two separate passages and agreed to issue a mea culpa. However, it cited an involuntary error, with no defamatory intent. In a letter to Trump's lawyers, the BBC explained why it believed there were no grounds for filing a lawsuit. Among these were the fact that the program had only aired in Great Britain and that the president had not been harmed, having been re-elected shortly thereafter.
But these explanations fell on deaf ears. "They changed the words that came out of my mouth to give them a completely different meaning," Trump lamented. "My words were beautiful, and they changed them to something not beautiful. Fake news was a great term, but it's no longer strong enough. What happened is more than false, it's corrupt."
(Unioneonline)
