From the Liveblog of
Thursday, November 13, 2025
BBC investigating possible second instance of editing Trump clips in misleading way
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleThe BBC says it is investigating a possible second instance in which a speech by US President Donald Trump was edited in a misleading way.
On Monday, the BBC apologized for giving the impression that Trump had directly urged “violent action” just before the assault on the US Capitol by his supporters in 2021 in a documentary that aired in October last year.
Trump’s lawyers wrote a letter to the BBC, giving it until Friday to “appropriately compensate” the president for “harm caused” by the edit, or face a $1 billion legal case.
The BBC director-general and the organization’s top news executive resigned Sunday over the controversy.
On Thursday The Telegraph said the broadcaster also aired another report, in June, 2022 on its “Newsnight” program, in which phrases spoken at different points in a speech by Trump from January 6, 2021 — the day of the riots — were edited together to make it appear as if the outgoing president was urging his supporters to go to the Capitol and “fight like hell.”
A BBC spokesperson says: “This matter has been brought to our attention and we are now looking into it.”
The editing row comes at a politically sensitive time for the BBC, which is due to renegotiate the Royal Charter that outlines the corporation’s governance. Its current charter will end in 2027.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his government have been performing a tightrope act, backing the broadcaster’s independence while avoiding taking sides against Trump.
The Times of Israel Community.