The head of the BBC has resigned over a deceptively edited clip of President Trump that the left-wing British broadcaster called an "error of judgment."
The doctored footage appeared in a BBC documentary that aired in October 2024, one week before the U.S. presidential election.
The BBC came under significant pressure after the leak of an internal memo that said the broadcaster "completely misled" viewers by splicing two different clips together. Trump is now threatening to file a $1 billion lawsuit for attributing "false, defamatory" statements to him in his famous speech prior to the Capitol protest on January 6th, 2021.
The clip stitches different parts of Trump's speech to make it appear that he urged his supporters to violently storm the Capitol, when in fact he urged them to "peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”
In Trump's actual speech, he said, "We're going to walk down to the Capitol, and we're going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women."
But in the BBC's version, Trump was heard to say, "We're going to walk down to the Capitol... and I'll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell."
The "fight like hell" quote has often been cited by Trump's opponents to falsely suggest he was calling for violence, but the full context makes it clear he was using a common figure of speech.
Michael Prescott, who had been hired to advise the BBC on standards, had flagged its Trump edit along with the broadcaster's coverage of the transgender issue and other topics in a leaked memo that was first reported by the Daily Telegraph.
As the scandal over the Trump edit snowballed, BBC head Tim Davie said he would step aside.
“Like all public organisations, the BBC is not perfect, and we must always be open, transparent and accountable. While not being the only reason, the current debate around BBC News has understandably contributed to my decision,” Davie said in the statement.
“Overall the BBC is delivering well, but there have been some mistakes made and as Director-General I have to take ultimate responsibility,” he added.
The CEO of BBC News, Deborah Turness, also resigned, a development Trump welcomed as he thanked the Daily Telegraph for "exposing these corrupt ‘journalists’."
BBC chair Samir Shah conceded to an "error of judgement," but Trump's lawyers accused the broadcaster of a "reckless disregard for the truth" in a letter threatening legal action unless the BBC issues a full apology and retraction.
