Trump's lawyers to use BBC's own internal emails to prove 'actual malice' in $10bn Panorama lawsuit

From the Newshound archive · first published 27 September 2026.

President Donald Trump's legal team plans to use internal BBC emails as key evidence in its $10bn defamation lawsuit over the broadcaster's October 2024 Panorama episode, which spliced two sections of his January 6 speech to suggest he directly called for violence at the Capitol. Florida court documents reveal the strategy centres on proving the BBC acted with 'actual malice' — the legal standard required for a US defamation claim. Trump filed the suit in December last year, triggering the resignations of Director-General Tim Davie and BBC News chief executive Deborah Turness.

BBC chairman Samir Shah's written apology, in which he admitted the documentary 'unintentionally created the impression' Trump made a 'direct call for violent action', will be central to the legal case.

Trump's team will also allege that the original pitch for the Panorama film depicted the President on a 'wanted'-style poster and that producers shared links proving the documentary was viewable in the US.

The BBC's own admission that the editing was 'an editorial error' is set to be used by Trump's lawyers as evidence the broadcaster knew the splicing was misleading.