US President Donald Trump said on Monday (11) that he considers himself “obligated” to sue the BBC. The reason, according to CNN Brazil , would be the alleged manipulation of his speech prior to the January 6, 2021 attacks on the Capitol.
According to the BBC , Trump threatened to sue the British broadcaster after claiming that a documentary on the public channel had manipulated one of his speeches. The Republican’s legal team gave the broadcaster until November 14th to issue a “full and fair retraction” or face a $1 billion lawsuit.
The BBC is experiencing one of its biggest institutional crises in recent decades, following the resignations of Director-General Tim Davie and Head of Journalism Deborah Turness. Their departures occurred amid accusations of bias and content manipulation.
“They changed my speech,” says Trump
“Well, I think I have an obligation to do this,” Trump said regarding the potential lawsuit against the network in an interview with Fox News’ The Ingraham Angle, hosted by Laura Ingraham. “They actually changed my January 6th speech, which was a beautiful and very calm speech. They made it seem radical and completely altered it. What they did was unbelievable,” Trump emphasized, according to the report.
According to Trump, the BBC itself acknowledged the manipulation. “They showed me the results afterward, the result of what they did, how they distorted it. It was very dishonest. And the boss resigned, as did many other people,” he said.
BBC admits error and faces internal crisis
The BBC acknowledged an error in editing Trump’s speech, although it denies any political intent. Nevertheless, the episode triggered an unprecedented crisis, leading to the resignation of senior executives and criticism of the public broadcaster’s impartiality. The case reignited the international debate about the role and responsibility of the media in relation to political leaders, especially during periods of intense polarization.
Debate on immigration and labor
During the same interview, Trump also commented on H-1B work visas, granted to qualified foreigners. When asked by Ingraham if he planned to “flood the country with tens or hundreds of thousands of foreign workers,” he replied: “I agree, but you need to bring in talent.”
The presenter retorted that “there are many talented people here,” to which Trump replied, stating, “No, you don’t have certain talents, and people need to learn. You can’t take people out of the unemployment line and say, ‘I’m going to put them in a factory where we’re going to produce missiles.'”
Source: brasil247.com