"The British national broadcaster said on Monday that the case, which relates to an edit of Trump's 2021 speech ahead of the attack on the US Capitol in Washington by a crowd of his supporters, should be dismissed given the potential impact of the expensive yet groundless litigation on free speech."
"Lawyers for the broadcaster also argued that the US president could not plausibly claim that the documentary, which aired shortly before the presidential election in 2024 that secured him a second term in office, had harmed his reputation. Trump's case, they said, fell well short of the high bar of actual malice a key legal requirement in defamation suits."
"The BBC has apologised for the edit, which spliced together two separate sections of Trump's speech on January 6, 2021, making it appear that he had explicitly urged supporters to attack the US Capitol."
President Trump filed a $10 billion lawsuit against the BBC in December over the documentary "Trump: A Second Chance?" The suit alleges the broadcaster defamed him by editing his January 6, 2021 speech to falsely suggest he explicitly urged supporters to attack the Capitol. Trump seeks $5 billion for defamation and $5 billion for violating Florida's Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. The BBC has apologized for splicing two separate speech sections together. In its motion to dismiss, the BBC argues the case lacks jurisdiction in Florida, as the documentary never aired there, and that Trump cannot demonstrate actual malice, a legal requirement for defamation suits involving public figures. The broadcaster warns the expensive litigation threatens free speech.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]