BBC urges court to dismiss Trump Panorama lawsuit

The BBC has urged a court to dismiss Donald Trump's multi-billion dollar lawsuit against it, arguing that a Panorama episode - which edited together different sections of a speech he gave - never aired in the US.

"It wasn't available to watch in the US on iPlayer, online or any other streaming platforms," a BBC spokesperson said. "We have therefore challenged jurisdiction of the Florida court."

President Trump is suing for defamation over the way Panorama spliced together his speech, which he claims made it appear that he had directly encouraged his supporters to storm the US Capitol on 6 January 2021.

The lawsuit - filed in Florida - accuses the BBC of "intentionally, maliciously, and deceptively doctoring" his speech.

The BBC has previously apologised to Trump over the Panorama edit, but rejected his demands for compensation and disagreed there was a basis for a defamation and trade practices claim.

In the court documents filed on Monday, the corporation said "the chilling effect is clear" when an individual as powerful and high profile as Trump - on whose activities the BBC reports every day - raises a claim like this.

The corporation's motion to dismiss the case claims the Florida court lacks "personal jurisdiction" over it, according to the documents.

It says the BBC aired the programme, called Trump: A Second Chance?, on its UK TV channels and its UK streaming service, iPlayer, but did not publish it in the US, including Florida. It also says that neither BBC or BBC Studios has its principal place of business in Florida, "or is even licenced to do business in the state".

Trump's lawsuit had claimed people in Florida may have accessed the programme using a virtual private network (VPN) or via the streaming service BritBox, but the BBC argued this was not correct.

"The BBC has never made the documentary available on BritBox, BBC.com, or any other distribution platform available in the US," the documents stated.

"The BBC prohibits the unauthorised use of VPNs to watch iPlayer from outside the UK and takes active steps to enforce this ban," they add.

Steps include stating in its terms of use that VPN access is barred and using the GeoGuard service to block unauthorised users with IP addresses located outside the UK, the BBC said.

Trump's lawsuit also cited agreements the BBC had with other distributors to show content, specifically one with a third-party media corporation, Blue Ant Media, that allegedly had licensing rights to distribute the programme "in North America, including Florida".

Blue Ant previously confirmed it had acquired the distribution rights, but said none of the company's buyers had aired the documentary in the US. It added that the version of the documentary it received "did not include the edit in question" as the international version had been "cut down in a number of places for time".

Blue Ant is not named as a defendant in the case.

Responding on that point, the BBC said the allegation that the documentary was distributed in North America by Blue Ant "misses the mark as well".

"In fact, no third-party distributor aired the documentary in the US," the documents state.

The BBC also reiterated its defence that there was no malice in the edit and that Trump was not harmed by the programme, having been re-elected shortly after it aired.

A BBC spokesperson said: "We have said throughout we will robustly defend the case against us.

"Put simply - the documentary was never aired in Florida - or the US. It wasn't available to watch in the US on iPlayer, online or any other streaming platforms including BritBox and BBC Select.

"We have therefore challenged jurisdiction of the Florida court and filed a motion to dismiss the president's claim."

It is understood Trump has two weeks to respond to the motion to dismiss, although he may request a reasonable extension.

During Trump's speech on 6 January 2021, before a riot at the US Capitol, he told a crowd: "We're going to walk down to the Capitol, and we're going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women."

More than 50 minutes later in the speech, he said: "And we fight. We fight like hell."

In the Panorama programme, a clip showed him as saying: "We're going to walk down to the Capitol... and I'll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell."

Criticism of the edit emerged more than a year later when a leaked internal memo was published by the Telegraph newspaper.

This led to the resignations of the BBC's director general, Tim Davie, and its head of news, Deborah Turness.

The president now seeking damages in relation to the editing of his speech, which his lawyers have claimed was "false and defamatory".

BBC chairman Samir Shah apologised for the edit, which he described as an "error of judgement".

Last month, a Florida judge rejected the BBC's application to delay the process of discovery in the case.

A proposed trial date in 2027 has been indicated should the case progress.