Update · 11 Nov 2026, 6:50 PM PKT: Trump sought at least $5 billion each for his defamation claim and his claim under a Florida consumer protection law. Judge Jeffrey T. Kuntz wrote in a 40-page ruling that the time gap between the two statements made it plausible that the BBC knew or should have known the segment would not be truthful.
Kuntz wrote that the edit was "not trimming around the edges but creating something different than what was stated in the speech." The BBC said it would continue to respond through the proper legal process.
A federal judge in Florida has ruled that President Donald Trump’s $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the can go ahead, though he dismissed Trump’s unfair trade practices claim against the British broadcaster. The decision was announced on Tuesday.
Trump is seeking at least $10 billion from the publicly funded broadcaster over edited clips of a speech. He says the footage made it appear he had urged supporters to storm the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. The case is one of several Trump has filed against news organisations as part of a broader campaign against coverage he dislikes.
US District Judge Jeffrey Kuntz said Trump had plausibly alleged that the damaged his reputation and knew, or should have known, that the clip was misleading. The judge made clear that his ruling did not determine whether Trump had actually proven those claims.
Trump described the decision as a “huge victory” in a social media post, pledging to keep fighting those he said seek to deceive the American people. A spokesperson said the broadcaster was surprised by the ruling but respects the court’s authority and remains confident in its position.
Edits at the centre of the Florida lawsuit
The has previously acknowledged that the edits were misleading and apologised to Trump, but it denies being liable for defamation. Trump’s lawsuit, filed in December in federal court in Florida, accuses the broadcaster of splicing together parts of the speech. These included a section where he told supporters to march on the Capitol and another where he said “fight like hell”.
The complaint also says the broadcast left out a passage in which Trump called for peaceful protest. The edited speech appeared in a Panorama documentary shortly before the 2024 presidential election, which Trump won.
Fallout from the leaked memo
A leaked internal memo cited the edits as evidence of potential political bias. That memo sparked a public relations crisis for the broadcaster and led to high-level resignations.
