BBC files motion asking US court to throw out Trump’s $10bn lawsuit

US president sued BBC over the documentary ‘Trump: A Second Chance?, seeking $5bn for defamation, $5bn for unfair trade practices.Published On 16 Mar 2026The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has asked a court in Florida in the US to dismiss a $10bn defamation lawsuit brought by United States President Donald Trump over the editing of one of his speeches, warning that the case could have a “chilling effect” on reporting.The British national broadcaster said on Monday that the case, which relates to an edit of Trump’s 2021 speech ahead of the attack on the US Capitol in Washington by a crowd of his supporters, should be dismissed given the potential impact of the “expensive yet groundless litigation” on “free speech”.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3BBC orders quick investigation into BAFTA broadcast slurlist 2 of 3BBC criticised for nixing ‘Free Palestine’ tribute from BAFTA coveragelist 3 of 3Trump sues BBC for $10bn over edited 2021 US Capitol riot speechend of listThe broadcaster’s 34-page filing also challenged the jurisdiction of the federal court for the Florida" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="29571" data-entity-type="location">Southern District of Florida, where Trump lodged his lawsuit, arguing that the documentary, titled Trump: A Second Chance?, never aired in Florida or the United States.Lawyers for the broadcaster also argued that the US president could not “plausibly claim” that the documentary, which aired shortly before the presidential election in 2024 that secured him a second term in office, had “harmed his reputation”.Trump’s case, they said, fell “well short of the high bar of actual malice” – a key legal requirement in defamation suits.The BBC has apologised for the edit, which spliced together two separate sections of Trump’s speech on January 6, 2021, making it appear that he had explicitly urged supporters to attack the US Capitol.Trump filed his lawsuit in December, seeking $5bn in damages for defamation and a further $5bn for violation of the Florida-deceptive-and-unfair-trade-practices-act" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="45205" data-entity-type="organization">Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.