US District Judge Jeffrey Kuntz says Trump has made a plausible case that the broadcaster harmed his reputation by editing footage of his January 6, 2021 speech to suggest he had urged supporters to storm the US Capitol.
A federal judge has said US President Donald Trump's $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the BBC over a misleadingly edited clip of a speech can go forward, but has thrown out Trump's unfair trade practices accusation against the broadcaster.
US District Judge Jeffrey Kuntz in Florida on Tuesday declined to throw out Trump's defamation claim against the BBC, saying Trump had plausibly alleged that the broadcaster damaged his reputation and knew or should have known the clip was misleading.
Trump called the ruling a "huge victory" in a social media post. "We will continue fighting against, and defeating, all of those who try to deceive the American People!" he wrote.
Trump is suing Britain's publicly funded broadcaster for at least $10 billion over edited clips of a speech that made it appear he directed supporters to storm the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
The case is one of several Trump has privately filed against the news media.
Spliced out parts
The BBC previously admitted the edits were misleading and apologised to Trump, though it denies being liable for defamation.
Trump's lawsuit, filed in December in Florida federal court, accuses the BBC of defaming him by splicing together parts of the speech, including one section where he told supporters to march on the Capitol and another where he said "fight like hell".
It omitted a section in which he called for peaceful protest.
The edited speech appeared in a BBC "Panorama" documentary shortly before the 2024 presidential election, which Trump won.
A leaked internal BBC memo cited the edits as evidence of potential political bias, sparking a public relations crisis for the broadcaster and leading to high-level resignations.
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