US President Donald Trump has said he will sue the BBC for up to $US5 billion ($7.65 billion) despite the broadcaster apologising for airing an edited clip of one of his speeches, leading to the resignation of top executives.
"We'll sue them for anywhere between a billion and five billion dollars, probably some time next week. I think I have to do it. They've even admitted that they cheated," Mr Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Friday.
The dispute started after the BBC released a documentary titled "Trump: A Second Chance?" days before the 2024 US presidential election.
The documentary included a spliced version of a speech delivered by Mr Trump on January 6, 2021.
The edited speech combined quotes delivered almost an hour apart, cutting sections where Mr Trump encouraged supporters to demonstrate peacefully.
Mr Trump's lawyers sent the BBC a letter on Monday accusing it of defaming the president with the video edit and giving them until Friday to apologise and pay compensation.
"The people of the UK are very angry about what happened, as you can imagine, because it shows the BBC is fake news," Mr Trump said.
He added that he planned to raise the BBC issue with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who has backed the broadcaster's independence while avoiding taking sides against Mr Trump.
"I'm going to call him over the weekend. He actually put a call in to me. He's very embarrassed," Mr Trump said.
On Monday, the BBC apologised for giving the impression that Mr Trump had directly urged "violent action" just before the assault on the US Capitol, in the documentary aired last year.
The firestorm over the video edit led the BBC director-general, Tim Davie, and the organisation's top news executive, Deborah Turness, to resign.
The BBC said on Thursday that its chairman Samir Shah had sent a personal letter to the White House making clear to President Trump that he and the corporation were sorry for the edit of the president's speech.
However, it added: "While the BBC sincerely regrets the manner in which the video clip was edited, we strongly disagree there is a basis for a defamation claim."
AFP/ ABC
