After the BBC was caught manipulating a speech by the American president, Donald Trump vowed to sue the British public service giant. Now it’s clear how much Trump’s lawsuit amounts to.

In the wake of the November scandal, BBC Director-General Tim Davie and BBC News CEO Deborah Turness announced their resignations over questions of bias after a BBC Panorama special had edited together Trump’s January 6, 2021 speech to make it appear as if the president had encouraged supporters to storm the Capitol.

The BBC apologized to Trump, but claimed that the editing “unintentionally” created the impression that a single continuous portion of the speech was being shown, rather than excerpts from different parts, and that this gave the false impression that Trump had called for violent action.

READ ALSO: SVT did the same as BBC – video with Trump’s speech manipulated

Despite the resignations and the apology, Trump stood firm.

– I think I have to. They have admitted that they cheated. They changed the words that came out of my mouth, Trump said in November.

– It shows that the BBC is fake news. We’ve known it for a long time, the president continued.

Five billion dollars

It has now been confirmed that Trump is suing the BBC for five billion dollars — just over 46 billion kronor — for defamation after the editing. In the lawsuit, filed in Florida, Trump’s legal representatives write that the BBC “deliberately, maliciously, and fraudulently manipulated his speech.”

– President Trump’s powerful lawsuit holds the BBC accountable for its defamation and reckless election meddling, just as he has held other fake news media accountable for their wrongdoing, a spokesperson for Trump’s legal team told Business Insider.

Before Trump filed the lawsuit, BBC’s lawyers had issued a lengthy response in which they claim, among other things, that there was no malice in the editing and that Trump was not harmed by the program because he was re-elected shortly after it aired.

They also refer to the fact that the BBC did not have the rights to distribute the Panorama program on its American channels. The documentary was available online, but was restricted to viewers in the United Kingdom.

READ ALSO: Ekeroth: “SVT manipulates – and calls it ‘public service’”