Trump says he has an 'obligation' to sue the BBC over edited Jan. 6 speech

President Donald Trump said he has an obligation to proceed with his threatened $1 billion lawsuit against the BBC for editing a speech he made on Jan. 6.

LONDON — President Donald Trump has said he has an obligation to proceed with his threatened $1 billion lawsuit against the BBC for editing a speech he made before his supporters' violent Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol in an attempt to overturn the presidential election result.

The BBC's top executive, Director-General Tim Davie, and its news CEO, Deborah Turness, resigned Sunday amid a growing scandal over this and other alleged editorial misjudgments.

Trump celebrated the news, though his legal team also wrote to the corporation on Sunday demanding a “full and fair retraction” and gave a deadline of 5 p.m. Friday for a response. A BBC spokesperson said: "We will review the letter and respond directly in due course."

The issue has become a major story in the U.K. where Prime Minister Keir Starmer told lawmakers at the weekly Prime Minister's Questions session in parliament on Wednesday: "I believe in a strong and independent BBC. Some would rather the BBC didn't exist ... I'm not one of them."

He added, however, that "where mistakes are made they do need to get their house in order."