• Trump seeks $5 billion on each of two counts.
• BBC faces crisis, resignations over documentary edit.
• Admits error of judgment but denies legal basis for lawsuit.

President Donald Trump sued the BBC on Monday for defamation over edited clips of a speech that made it appear he directed supporters to storm the US Capitol, opening an international front in his fight against media coverage he deems untrue or unfair.

Trump accused Britain’s publicly owned broadcaster of defaming him by splicing together parts of a January 6, 2021, 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.

Trump’s lawsuit alleges the BBC defamed him and violated a Florida law that bars deceptive and unfair trade practices. He is seeking $5 billion in damages for each of the lawsuit’s two counts.

The BBC has apologised to Trump, admitted an error of judgment and acknowledged that the edit gave the mistaken impression that he had made a direct call for violent action. But the broadcaster has said there is no legal basis to sue.

Trump, in his lawsuit filed Monday in Miami federal court, said the BBC, despite its apology, “has made no showing of actual remorse for its wrongdoing nor meaningful institutional changes to prevent future journalistic abuses.”

The BBC is funded through a mandatory license fee on all TV viewers, which UK lawyers say could make any payout to Trump politically fraught.

A spokesman for Trump’s legal team said in a statement that the BBC “has a long pattern of deceiving its audience in coverage of President Trump, all in service of its own leftist political agenda.”

A BBC spokesperson told Reuters earlier on Monday that it had “no further contact from President Trump’s lawyers at this point. Our position remains the same.” The broadcaster did not immediately respond to a request for comment after the lawsuit was filed.

Crisis led to resignations

Facing one of the biggest crises in its 103-year history, the BBC has said it has no plans to rebroadcast the documentary on any of its platforms.

The dispute over the clip, featured on the BBC’s “Panorama” documentary show shortly before the 2024 presidential election, sparked a public relations crisis for the broadcaster, leading to the resignations of its two most senior officials.

Trump’s lawyers say the BBC caused him overwhelming reputational and financial harm.

The documentary drew scrutiny after the leak of a BBC memo by an external standards adviser that raised concerns about how it was edited, part of a wider investigation of political bias at the publicly funded broadcaster.

The documentary was not broadcast in the United States.

Trump may have sued in the US because defamation claims in Britain must be brought within a year of publication, a window that has closed for the “Panorama” episode.

To overcome the US Constitution’s legal protections for free speech and the press, Trump will need to prove not only that the edit was false and defamatory but also that the BBC knowingly misled viewers or acted recklessly.

The broadcaster could argue that the documentary was substantially true and its editing decisions did not create a false impression, legal experts said. It could also claim the program did not damage Trump’s reputation.

Other media have settled with Trump, including CBS and ABC, when Trump sued them following his comeback win in the November 2024 election.

Trump has filed lawsuits against the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and a newspaper in Iowa, all three of which have denied wrongdoing.

The attack on the US Capitol in January 2021 was aimed at blocking Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s presidential win over Trump in the 2020 US election.

In yet another incident of hate crime against religious minorities in India, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar removed the hijab (veil) of a newly recruited Muslim doctor during an official event on Monday, drawing widespread criticism worldwide.

The shameful incident took place at “Samvad,” the CM’s secretariat, where appointment letters were being handed over to newly recruited doctors, The Indian Express reported.

When the hijab-clad woman went to collect her job letter, the CM, 75, looked at her and asked: “What is this?”

Then, he bent a little and pulled her hijab down.

Meanwhile, the flustered appointee was hastily pulled aside by an official standing near the stage.

The shocking incident triggered a wave of anguish among minorities in the country and drew strong criticism from the opposition parties, especially the Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).

Reacting to the video, the Congress accused Kumar of inappropriate conduct towards the woman official, calling it a “vile act”.

In a post on X, the party said, “This is Bihar’s Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Look at his shamelessness—a female doctor had come to collect her appointment letter, and Nitish Kumar pulled off her hijab. A man occupying the highest position in Bihar is openly indulging in such a vile act.”

The RJD questioned Kumar’s mental health.

“What has happened to Nitish ji? His mental state has now reached a completely pitiable condition,” the party said in a post on X.

In India, hate crimes against religious minorities have alarmingly increased during the tenure of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Last month, a US report recommended designating India as a country of “special concern” due to religious prejudice and serious violations of religious freedom.

US Commission on International Religious Freedom, in its report, exposed religious discrimination in India and extremist policies of the RSS and the BJP’s Hindutva agenda.

The report revealed that Modi and the BJP had implemented discriminatory policies against minorities in line with the Hindutva ideology.

It added that the BJP, as the political wing of the RSS, promotes Hindu nationalism.

The RSS has been involved for decades in violent acts against minorities, particularly Muslims and Sikhs.