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The speech took place before some of Trump’s supporters stormed
the U.S. Capitol as Congress was poised to certify
President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election that
Trump falsely alleged was stolen from him.
The BBC had broadcast the documentary — titled “Trump: A Second
Chance?” — days before the 2024 U.S. presidential election. It
spliced together three quotes from two sections of the 2021
speech, delivered almost an hour apart, into what appeared to be
one quote in which Trump urged supporters to march with him and
“fight like hell.” Among the parts cut out was a section where
Trump said he wanted supporters to demonstrate peacefully.
The broadcaster has apologized to Trump over the edit of the
Jan. 6 speech. But the publicly funded BBC rejected claims it
had defamed him. The furor triggered the resignations of the
BBC’s top executive and its head of news.
Papers filed Monday with Florida’s Southern District court say
the BBC will file a motion to dismiss the case on the basis that
the court lacks jurisdiction, the court venue is “improper” and
Trump has “failed to state a claim.”
The broadcaster’s lawyers will argue that the BBC did not
create, produce or broadcast the documentary in Florida and that
Trump’s claim the documentary was available in the U.S. on
streaming service BritBox is not true.
It will also argue that Trump has failed to “plausibly allege”
the BBC acted with malice in airing the documentary.
The BBC is asking the court to “to stay all other discovery” —
the pretrial process in which parties gather information —
pending a decision on the motion to dismiss. The discovery
process could require the BBC to hand over reams of emails and
other documents related to its coverage of Trump.
If the case continues, a 2027 trial date has been proposed.
“As we have made clear previously, we will be defending this
case,” the BBC said Tuesday in a statement. “We are not going to
make further comment on ongoing legal proceedings.”
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