US President Donald Trump has said he has an “obligation” to sue the BBC over the way a section of his speech was edited in a Panorama documentary.
Speaking to Fox News, he said his 6 January 2021 speech had been “butchered” and the way it was presented had “defrauded” viewers.
It is the first time Trump has spoken publicly about the matter since his lawyers wrote to the BBC and said he would sue for $1bn (£759m) in damages unless the corporation issues a retraction, apologises and compensates him.
A spokesperson for the BBC said: “We are reviewing the letter and will respond directly in due course.”
BBC chair Samir Shah has previously apologised for an “error of judgement” over the edit.
Appearing Tuesday evening on Fox News’s The Ingraham Angle, the president was asked if he would go ahead with the lawsuit, responding, “Well I guess I have to, you know, why not, because they defrauded the public, and they’ve admitted it”.
Trump continued: “They actually changed my January 6 speech, which was a beautiful speech, which was a very calming speech, and they made it sound radical.
“And they actually changed it. What they did was rather incredible.”
Asked again if he would proceed with the legal action, he said: “Well, I think I have an obligation to do it, because you can’t get people, you can’t allow people to do that.”
The Fox News interview was recorded on Monday, though the section concerning the BBC was not published by Fox News until late on Tuesday evening in the US.
The BBC received the letter from Trump’s lawyers on Sunday. It demands a “full and fair retraction” of the documentary, an apology, and that the BBC “appropriately compensate President Trump for the harm caused”.
It sets a deadline of 22:00 GMT (17:00 EST) on Friday for the corporation to respond.
The BBC has said it will respond in due course.
BBC News has contacted the BBC for comment on the president’s latest remarks.
If Trump sues in Florida, he would also need to establish that the BBC Panorama documentary was available there. There is no evidence so far to suggest that it has been shown in the US.
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