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President Donald Trump notched a legal victory on Monday when a district judge granted his Leave to File First Amended Complaint in Trump v. British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), allowing the president’s legal team to amend his complaint against the global broadcaster.
Trump filed a lawsuit against the BBC in December in a personal capacity for both defamation and for a violation of Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act for $5 billion apiece, seeking $10 billion total. Trump was seeking permission to modify his original lawsuit, but the BBC insisted he missed the deadline and was playing tactical legal games to avoid financial disclosures.
United States District Judge Roy K. Altman sided with Trump, granting him permission to file an amended complaint and wiping out the BBC’s previous motion to dismiss as “moot.”
JUDGE LIMITS BBC FROM RELITIGATING JAN 6 IN TRUMP LAWSUIT OVER MISLEADING DOCUMENTARY EDIT
President Donald Trump filed a lawsuit against the BBC in December in a personal capacity for both defamation and for a violation of Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act for $5 billion apiece, seeking $10 billion total. (Patrick van Katwijk/Getty Images)
“Today’s strong and thoughtful ruling is a major win for President Trump’s powerhouse lawsuit against the formerly respected and now disgraced BBC, which defamed President Trump by intentionally, maliciously and deceptively doctoring his speech in a brazen attempt to interfere in the 2024 Presidential Election. President Trump is holding the leftist BBC, along with all of its comrades in the mainstream media, accountable for their peddling of Fake News through deception and maliciously defamatory conduct,” a spokesman for Trump’s legal team told Fox News Digital.
The BBC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The BBC has faced scrutiny over the 2024 “Panorama” documentary about Trump’s speech on Jan. 6, as the documentary — titled “Trump: A Second Chance?” — stitched together remarks Trump made nearly an hour apart during his address that made it appear as if he had told his supporters to “fight like hell” at the Capitol, shortly before the riot there that day.
The issue surrounding the documentary’s editing integrity comes after a report from The Telegraph revealed excerpts from a whistleblower dossier compiled by Michael Prescott, a communications advisor hired by the BBC to review its editorial standards.
TRUMP, BBC AGREE ON MEDIATOR FOR $10 BILLION LAWSUIT OVER JAN 6 DOCUMENTARY EDITING CONTROVERSY
President Trump is expected to focus on personal reputational harm and is still seeking $10 billion in damages. (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo)
The whistleblower alleged the network’s documentary spliced two separate comments made by Trump nearly an hour apart on the day of the Capitol riot, which erroneously implied that the president was calling for violence from his supporters.
“We’re going to walk down to the Capitol. And I’ll be there with you. And we fight — we fight like hell,” the documentary showed Trump saying, without noting that the statement had been edited.
In reality, Trump said, “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol. And we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women, and we’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them, because you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong.”
LEGAL ANALYST PREDICTS TRUMP COULD WIN ‘CONSIDERABLE’ DAMAGES FROM BBC DOCUMENTARY LAWSUIT
Trump called on his supporters 54 minutes later to “fight like hell” for election integrity. The controversy ultimately led to the resignations of BBC CEO Deborah Turness and Director-General Tim Davie last year.
Trump must file the new version of the complaint by Monday. He is expected to focus on personal reputational harm and is still seeking $10 billion in damages. The BBC will have the opportunity to file a new motion to dismiss targeting the revised allegations.
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Fox News Digital’s David Rutz contributed to this report.