Liz Truss Backs Trump Over BBC Scandal, Urges $1 Billion Lawsuit for Defamation
Former UK Prime Minister Liz Truss is voicing full support for President Donald Trump’s $1 billion defamation threat against the BBC, blasting the British broadcaster for manipulating footage of Trump’s January 6, 2021 speech and calling for the network to be “defunded.”
During a Saturday appearance on Fox & Friends Weekend, Truss accused the BBC of engaging in deliberate misinformation and political warfare against conservatives on both sides of the Atlantic.
“They’ve lied, they’ve cheated, they’ve fiddled with footage,” Truss said. “There are lots of people in Britain who are cheering President Trump on and who want him to sue the BBC because they’re a huge problem.”
At the center of the scandal is a segment in the BBC documentary Trump: A Second Chance?, which edited together two separate moments from Trump’s Jan. 6 address. The edit removed his call for supporters to march “peacefully and patriotically” and instead inserted the phrase “fight like hell,” which appeared much later in the speech.
The doctored clip sparked intense backlash after being broadcast, with the BBC quickly issuing an apology. BBC Director-General Tim Davie and BBC News CEO Deborah Turness both resigned amid the fallout. The BBC has pulled the documentary from circulation and promised not to rebroadcast it.
Despite the apology, Trump has vowed to move forward with legal action and is seeking $1 billion in damages, alleging reputational harm and intentional political defamation. Trump said he feels “obligated” to act, citing a pattern of coordinated media attacks on his presidency and the MAGA movement.
The BBC said it regrets the edit and confirmed that Chairman Samir Shah sent a personal apology letter to President Trump. However, the network has rejected any suggestion that it owes compensation.
Truss was unimpressed by the BBC’s response.
“I want to see him progress with this legal suit because I don’t think they’ve been held to account,” she said. “I bet they carry on printing and publishing and broadcasting fake news, not just about the president, but about the MAGA movement, about the changes that are going on in the world.”
She went further, saying the BBC has lost its credibility and should be dismantled. “The BBC used to be the paragon of journalism across the world. It was respected. It’s now become a laughingstock, and it needs to be put out of its misery.”
Trump echoed that sentiment on Truth Social, thanking Truss for her support and reiterating his intent to meet with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer over the issue before filing suit. According to the president, the BBC’s actions were “malicious, defamatory, and designed to mislead the public.”
Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett backed Trump’s legal position, saying the case is a textbook example of defamation under British law.
“The BBC knows that, which is why the network apologized, removed the story,” Jarrett said. “That does not, however, erase the past damages that Trump sustained, which are considerable.”
Truss’s support adds international political weight to the case, and her criticism of the BBC as politically biased underscores a growing transatlantic frustration with legacy media institutions. For Trump, the controversy offers another opportunity to rally support around media accountability, free speech, and election integrity.
With both political and legal momentum building, Trump’s case against the BBC may mark a significant showdown between a sitting U.S. president and one of the world’s most influential media organizations.