Trump threatens BBC with legal action over speech edit; top execs quit

President Donald Trump has threatened the BBC with legal action after Director-General Tim Davie, and news CEO Deborah Turness resigned.

LONDON — President Donald Trump threatened to sue the BBC for $1 billion, his legal team told NBC News on Monday, accusing the British public broadcaster of trying to "interfere in the presidential election" last year by editing one of his speeches.

Trump was already performing a victory lap after the BBC's top official, Director General Tim Davie, and news CEO Deborah Turness resigned Sunday over mounting pressure on the 103-year-old organization.

In doing so, the president has become a key voice on the future of the national institution, which has come under sustained attack from the political right.

Members of the media wait outside the entrance to the BBC in London on Nov. 10, 2025. Henry Nicholls / AFP - Getty ImagesThe BBC's chairman, Samir Shah, apologized Monday for what he called an "error of judgement." A day before the election last year, BBC's "Panorama" spliced together two sections of Trump's speech ahead of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, including a line where he urged supporters to “fight like hell” but omitting the part where he told them to protest peacefully.

“The BBC defamed President Trump by intentionally and deceitfully editing its documentary in order to try and interfere in the Presidential Election," a spokesman for the President's outside legal team told NBC News. "President Trump will continue to hold accountable those who traffic in lies, deception, and fake news.”