Donald Trump has threatened a billion-dollar legal action against the BBC over the editing of a Panorama documentary.
It comes as BBC chairman Samir Shah was forced to apologise on Monday for an "error of judgment" over the editing of a speech in a Panorama documentary by Mr Trump before the attack on the US Capitol on January 6 2021.
The apology follows the resignation of two of the corporation’s most senior figures on Sunday – Chief Executive of BBC News Deborah Turness and Director-General Tim Davie.
Trump’s legal team has submitted a letter to the BBC threatening a lawsuit unless they retract the documentary.
ITV News obtained a copy of the letter from a source close to President Trump
The letter, from Trump counsel Alejandro Brito, demands that “false, defamatory, disparaging, and inflammatory statements” made about Mr Trump must be retracted immediately, Fox News reported.
The letter gives the corporation a Friday deadline to respond, adding if it does not, Mr 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 dollars in damages.”
It concludes: “The BBC is on notice.”
Mr Trump has a history of suing news organisations in the US.
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