Trump threatens to sue the BBC for £1bn if they fail to meet deadline

The BBC has not issued a response yet

Trump's lawyer has set the BBC a deadline of 5pm EST (10pm local time) for Friday 14 November to 'comply'.

If they do not 'comply', Trump's letter reads: "President Trump will be left with no alternative but to enforce his legal and equitable rights, all of which are expressly reserved and are not waived, including by filing legal action for no less than $1,000,000,000 (One Billion Dollars) in damages. The BBC is on notice."

The US president's lawyers three demands for the BBC are:

1. "Immediately issue a full and fair retraction of the documentary and any and all other false, defamatory, disparaging, misleading, and inflammatory statements about President Trump in as conspicuous a manner as they were originally published."
2. "Immediately issue an apology for the false, defamatory, disparaging, misleading, and inflammatory statements about President Trump."
3. "Appropriately compensate President Trump for the harm caused."

A spokesperson for Trump's legal team told NBC: "The BBC defamed President Trump by intentionally and deceitfully editing its documentary in order to try and interfere in the Presidential Election.

"President Trump will continue to hold accountable those who traffic in lies, deception, and fake news."

The BBC has confirmed it has received the letter and will respond in due course.

On Sunday, director general Tim Davie and BBC News CEO Deborah Turness both announced their resignations, following criticism over a the way a Panorama documentary edited Donald Trump’s infamous January 6 speech in 2021.

A leaked 19-page memo on impartiality by Michael Prescott, a former external adviser to the BBC’s editorial standards committee, ruled the broadcaster gave the impression that he told supporters he would march with them to the US Capitol to “fight like hell.”

The sequence appeared in the BBC documentary Trump: A Second Chance?, which aired the week before last year’s US election.

Trump had already welcomed the news of Davie and Turness’s resignations, after having previously attacked the BBC over the Panorama programme and labelling the journalists involved “corrupt.”

Speaking outside the BBC, Turness dismissed Trump's comments, along with claims from some that the BBC was institutionally biased.

She said: “I would like to say it has been the privilege of my career to serve as the CEO of BBC News and to work with our brilliant team of journalists.”

“I stepped down over the weekend because the buck stops with me. But I’d like to make one thing very clear, BBC News is not institutionally biased. That’s why it’s the world’s most trusted news provider.”

On President Trump’s comments about the corporation, she said: “Of course our journalists aren’t corrupt. Our journalists are hardworking people who strive for impartiality and I will stand by their journalism.”