Trump says BBC ‘defrauded the public’ with editing of speech

U.S. President Donald Trump said the BBC “defrauded the public” and that he had an “obligation” to take legal action over the editing of a speech.

Director-general Tim Davie quit on Sunday amid a scandal over the editing of a speech by Trump before the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6 2021.

Trump reiterated his threat of launching a billion-dollar legal action.

He said: “I think I have an obligation to do it, you can’t allow people to do that.

“I guess I have to. They defrauded the public and they’ve admitted it. This is within one of our great allies, supposedly our great ally.

“That’s a pretty sad event. They actually changed my January 6 speech, which was a beautiful speech, which was a very calming speech, and they made it sound radical.

“They showed me the results of how they butchered it up. It was very dishonest and the head man quit and a lot of the other people quit.”

A legal letter, from Trump counsel Alejandro Brito, has demanded that “false, defamatory, disparaging, and inflammatory statements” made about Trump be retracted immediately.

The letter says if the BBC “does not comply,” Trump will be “left with no alternative but to enforce his legal and equitable rights.

“All of which are expressly reserved and are not waived, including by filing legal action for no less than 1,000,000,000 dollars in damages.”

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has not spoken to Trump about his threatened legal action, Starmer’s office indicated.