US President Donald Trump said on Monday (11) that he considers himself “obligated” to sue the BBC. According to CNN Brasil, the reason would be the alleged manipulation of his speech prior to the attacks on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
According to the BBC, Trump threatened to sue the British broadcaster after claiming that a documentary on the public channel manipulated one of his speeches. The Republican’s legal team gave the broadcaster until November 14 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 dismissals of director-general Tim Davie and head of journalism Deborah Turness. The departures occurred amid accusations of bias and content manipulation.
“They changed my speech,” says Trump
“Well, I think I have an obligation to do it,” Trump said about the possible lawsuit against the network in an interview on The Ingraham Angle, from Fox News, hosted by Laura Ingraham. “They really changed my January 6 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 admitted 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. However, the episode triggered an unprecedented crisis, leading to the resignation of top executives and criticism of the public broadcaster’s impartiality. The case reignited the international debate on the role and responsibility of the media toward political leaders, especially in periods of intense polarization.
Debate on Immigration and Work
In the same interview, Trump also commented on H-1B work visas, granted to qualified foreigners. 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 host retorted that “there are many talented people here,” to which Trump responded, stating: “No, you don’t have certain talents, and people need to learn. You can’t take people from the unemployment line and say: ‘I’m going to put them in a factory where we’re going to produce missiles’”.
Source: brasil247.com