(Adnkronos) – The BBC will seek to have the defamation lawsuit filed by the President of the United States against the broadcaster dismissed. This is according to documents filed in a Florida court. Donald Trump has demanded ten billion dollars in compensation for how the speech he gave on January 6, 2021, was edited in a documentary broadcast by the ‘Panorama’ program about the assault on Congress. In the episode broadcast in 2024, it appears that the President of the United States had encouraged his supporters to storm the Capitol.
The BBC will file a motion to dismiss, arguing that the Florida court lacks “personal jurisdiction” over the broadcaster, that the court’s venue is “improper,” and that Trump “has failed to state a claim,” as revealed by documents filed in recent hours. The BBC will assert that it did not create, produce, or transmit the documentary in Florida and that Trump’s claim that the documentary was available in the United States on the BritBox streaming service is untrue. “Just click on the link cited by the plaintiff to understand that it is not on BritBox,” stated the British broadcaster’s lawyers in court documents.
Furthermore, the broadcaster will argue that the American president has failed to “plausibly allege” that the BBC published the documentary with “actual malice,” which public officials are required to demonstrate when filing a defamation lawsuit in the United States. The broadcaster has asked the court to “stay all further discovery” pending a decision on the motion. If the case proceeds, a trial date in 2027 has been proposed, the Guardian reports.
