BBC apologises to Trump over 'doctored' Panorama footage after President threatened $1bn lawsuit

The broadcaster has told the President that it was an "error of judgement" and the programme will "not be broadcast again in this form on any BBC platforms".

The clip spliced portions of the speech which critics say made it appear as if President Trump had encouraged the violence.

In a statement released on Thursday evening, the BBC said: “This programme was reviewed after criticism of how President Donald Trump’s 6th January 2021 speech was edited.

“During that sequence, we showed excerpts taken from different parts of the speech.

Read More: More chaos at BBC as Newsnight also accused of 'doctoring' Trump January 6 speech footage

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“However, we accept that our edit unintentionally created the impression that we were showing a single continuous section of the speech, rather than excerpts from different points in the speech, and that this gave the mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action.

“The BBC would like to apologise to President Trump for that error of judgement.

“This programme was not scheduled to be re-broadcast and will not be broadcast again in this form on any BBC platforms.”

The scandal in part led to the resignation of BBC Director-General Tim Davie and News CEO Deborah Mary Turness on Sunday.

In the clip, two moments from the President's speech were combined, making it appear he was telling his supporters he was going to the Capitol building with them to "fight like hell".

In reality, the President said he was going to walk with his supporters "to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard".

Trump had earlier threatened to sue the corporation for $1 billion over the footage of his speech in Washington shortly before the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.

Despite his demands for compensation to stave off a lawsuit, the corporation did not make any mention of money in their apology.

The President doubled down on his legal threat to sue the corporation on Wednesday night, insisting that the BBC had "defrauded the public", and that the corporation had "admitted it".

He added: "And this is within one of our great allies, you know?"

Describing his speech as "beautiful" and "very calming", Trump insisted the edit had transformed its meaning to make it sound "radical".

The result? An "incredible" and "very dishonest" edit, the US President claimed during his Fox News interview.

In response to Trump's threat, a spokesperson for the BBC added: “Lawyers for the BBC have written to President Trump’s legal team in response to a letter received on Sunday.

“BBC chair Samir Shah has separately sent a personal letter to the White House making clear to President Trump that he and the corporation are sorry for the edit of the president’s speech on 6 January 2021, which featured in the programme.

“The BBC has no plans to rebroadcast the documentary Trump: A Second Chance? on any BBC platforms.

“While the BBC sincerely regrets the manner in which the video clip was edited, we strongly disagree there is a basis for a defamation claim.”

The apology comes hours after BBC Newsnight was also accused of doctoring footage of the same Donald Trump speech and ignoring concerns that were raised about it.

Spliced footage of the speech, which aired in an episode in 2022, made it seem US President Donald Trump was encouraging his supporters to riot.

Just like the Panorama clip, the Newsnight edit removes parts of Mr Trump's speech, seemingly emphasising his message to supporters to "fight like hell" hours before a mob of his fans descended on Washington, DC.

Earlier, a BBC spokesperson said: "The BBC holds itself to the highest editorial standards. This matter has been brought to our attention and we are now looking into it."

The clip has Mr Trump saying: “We’re gonna walk down to the Capitol and we’re gonna cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women – and we fight.

"We fight like hell and if you don’t fight like hell you aren’t gonna have a country any more.”

This removes a large chunk of the President's speech, with some claiming it makes him appear to be more inflammatory than he actually was.

He didn't call on his supporters to "fight like hell" until around 54 minutes later.