Britain's BBC is "determined to fight" any legal action filed by U.S President Donald Trump, saying on there was no basis for a defamation case over its editing of one of his speeches.
Trump said last week he would likely sue the BBC for as much as $US5 billion after the broadcaster spliced together separate clips of one of his speeches, creating the impression he was inciting the January 6, 2021 riot.
The British national broadcaster's chair Samir Shah then sent a personal letter to Trump to apologise for the edit, the BBC said, but the broadcaster said it strongly disagreed there was a basis for a defamation claim.
But that has done little to quell Trump's displeasure, with the US president telling reporters on Friday he would sue for anywhere between $US1 billion and $US5 billion.
In a further email sent to BBC staff, Shah said there was a lot of speculation about the possibility of legal action, including potential costs or settlements.
He says in all this, they acutely aware of the privilege of their funding and the need to protect their license fee payers, the British public.
Shah said there is no basis for a defamation case and they are determined to fight this.
The edit to Trump's January 6 speech has caused headaches for the BBC, which has already been struck by a number of high-profile scandals in recent years.
The spliced-together speech was aired in a Panorama documentary which aired before the 2024 US Presidential election, but only came to light in recent weeks.
Source : ABC
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