US President Donald Trump has abandoned a portion of his legal action against the BBC. In new court filings revealed on Thursday, Trump has withdrawn the defamation allegations he lodged against BBC Studios Distribution Limited and BBC Studios Productions Limited. However, he has only dropped these claims against the commercial and production branches of the BBC, while maintaining his lawsuit against the public broadcaster.
According to the legal paperwork released on Thursday, it was stated that “President Donald J. Trump and the Studios Defendants have mutually agreed to dismiss all claims made against the Studios defendants with prejudice, each party covering its own costs and attorney fees.” Trump will persist in pursuing his legal claims against the British Broadcasting Corporation.
In court documents, Trump argued that the manipulated footage in a 2024 Panorama documentary covering the US Capitol riots of 2021 damaged the reputation of his brand, properties, and businesses. He filed a $10 billion lawsuit against the BBC in Florida, accusing filmmakers of deliberately altering the footage capturing his speech before the Capitol breach.
Following the broadcast of the documentary a week before the US election, the BBC issued a formal apology for the misleading impression created. The BBC’s director-general at the time, Tim Davie, and the head of news, Deborah Turness, resigned in response to the controversy.
Despite Trump’s demands for compensation, the BBC rejected them, contending in February that the case should be dismissed by US courts as there was no evidence of the Panorama program being viewed in the US. The US government is contemplating involvement in the ongoing litigation, potentially allowing for the withholding of documents requested by BBC lawyers from Trump under claims of executive privilege or national security risks. Trump’s legal team accused the BBC of a “fishing expedition” for seeking financial information related to a trust holding his business assets managed by his son, Donald Trump Jr.
A trial date has been scheduled for February 2027 in Florida.
