BBC Doctored Second Trump Speech

The British Broadcasting Corporation is facing a fresh allegation that it spliced together President Donald Trump's Jan. 6, 2021, speech to make it appear he issued a more explicit call for violence ahead of the unrest at the Capitol that day.

The state-owned broadcaster already is reeling from the resignations of its director-general, Tim Davie, and BBC News chief Deborah Turness, after the same speech was spliced in a "Panorama" episode that aired last year.

Footage edited for an episode of "Newsnight" in 2022 made it appear Trump was encouraging his supporters to riot at the Capitol, The Telegraph reported Thursday. The edit was similar to a version aired on "Panorama."

The latest revelation surfaced after Trump's legal team reportedly sent a letter to the BBC giving it until Friday to retract the "Panorama" episode in which the excerpts appeared or face a lawsuit seeking at least $1 billion.

The letter also demanded an apology and that the BBC "appropriately compensate President Trump for the harm caused."

BBC Chair Samir Shah apologized for the editing of the footage, and a BBC spokesperson said the organization is reviewing the letter.

Mick Mulvaney, Trump's acting White House chief of staff who resigned after the events of Jan. 6, criticized the BBC on air at the time of the "Newsnight" broadcast for "splicing" the footage.

His concerns were ignored by anchor Kirsty Wark, according to The Telegraph.

A whistleblower told the outlet that concerns about the edited clip were raised during an editorial meeting the following morning but were dismissed.

The disclosure risks plunging the BBC further into crisis.

The "Panorama" edit emerged from an internal dossier on bias that was leaked to The Telegraph.

BBC insiders have sought to portray the bias allegations to The Telegraph as part of a right-wing coup against its news division, arguing that individual mistakes do not constitute a systemic problem.

But the doctored "Newsnight" footage — disclosed by a separate whistleblower who worked on the program — suggested deeper issues inside the corporation than its defenders acknowledged, according to The Telegraph.

The controversy has also echoed abroad: Sky News Australia host Chris Kenny recently accused Australia's public broadcaster, ABC, of committing a similar "journalistic sin" in its own edited footage of Trump, underscoring how the debate over manipulated clips has spread beyond the BBC.

Because the "Newsnight" footage was broadcast more than two years before "Panorama" aired its own doctored version of the same Trump speech — and concerns were raised at the time — the latest disclosure is likely to trigger new scrutiny of the BBC's claim that the "Panorama" edits were an innocent mistake.

After The Telegraph published its reporting, a spokesman for Trump's legal team said, "It is now clear that BBC engaged in a pattern of defamation against President Trump by intentionally and deceitfully editing his historic speech in order to try and interfere in the presidential election.

"President Trump will continue to hold accountable those who traffic in lies, deception, and fake news."

Richard Tice, the Reform UK deputy leader, told The Telegraph, "With shocking news of a second Trump edit, it's clear BBC News is infected by anti-Trump poison.

"We've said consistently that a larger clear out is needed; this is the additional proof required."

A BBC spokesman told The Telegraph, "The BBC holds itself to the highest editorial standards. This matter has been brought to our attention, and we are now looking into it."

Newsmax reached out to the White House for comment. A spokesperson pointed to press secretary Karoline Leavitt's Wednesday briefing, which addressed the "Panorama" episode but came before the "Newsnight" disclosure.

"The president has made it very clear that this is a leftist propaganda machine that is unfortunately subsidized by British taxpayers, and he thinks that's extremely unfortunate for the great people of the United Kingdom and Great Britain," Leavitt said.

"And I think that the president was deeply concerned by the editing, the purposeful and dishonest editing of his speech that was so clearly fake news."

"And he rightfully dubbed that term many years ago. And this is a classic example of that," she added.

"We see it in the United States all the time. We see it now in the United Kingdom."