Trump says he’ll sue BBC over Panorama video — will it really have to pay US president $5 billion? What happens next?

US President Donald Trump on Friday said that he will sue the BBC for up to $5 billion. This comes even as the British broadcaster apologised to Trump earlier this month but refused to pay for damages linked with a misleading speech edit.

“We’ll sue them for anywhere between a billion and five billion dollars, probably some time next week. I think I have to do it. They’ve even admitted that they cheated,” Trump told reporters abroad his Air Force One.

The BBC has dismissed Donald Trump’s legal defamation claim, even though it issued an apology. This has apparently not sat well with the US President who seems persistent on to not let the matter to rest, despite the departure of top BBC executives and as the controversy threatens to become a strain on ties with London.

Trump’s threat to sue BBC for $5 billion is way above his initial ask of $1 billion — an already huge amount that represents the company’s 13% annual revenue. BBC in a recent report said last year, its annual income from the British public’s licence fee was 3.8 billion pounds, which roughly around $5 billion.

Why is the BBC being sued?

The BBC has been in turmoil since the edited clip from its flagship news program “Panorama”, aired before the 2024 presidential elections, resurfaced last week.

The broadcaster on Monday issued an apology for giving the impression in the documentary that Trump had directly urged “violent action” just before the assault on the US Capitol by his supporters on January 6, 2021.

“The people of the UK are very angry about what happened, as you can imagine, because it shows the BBC is fake news,” Trump said on Friday.

Will BBC pay $5 billion to Trump?

The BBC has maintained in its apology it will not pay any financial damage to Trump.

The broadcaster reiterated this stance on Saturday in an article titled “BBC now faces tough legal battle with world’s most powerful man. What happens next?”

It has said that the BBC has no intention to pay any compensation to Donald Trump, as it believes that the Panorama documentary did not cause any harm to him.

A former senior BBC executive said “they’ve made the right call”, talking about the refusal, the article mentions.

Next plan of action

The road ahead, however, seems to be long for the British corporation. According to the senior executive quoted by BBC in its article, the broadcaster now has to “batten down – and get the best lawyers in Florida” as Donald Trump does not seem to be in the mood to give up.

The BBC fears that its top fights might have to be diverted to prepare for the long battle with the US President, a move that could be damaging to a point of facing an existential crisis. The legal fee, the article notes, could also be very expensive.

There are other routes that the corporation can use too.

The article mentions that the BBC could possibly involve the UK government in the matter, hoping that a call from Prime Minister Keir Starmer could change Trump’s mind.

However, it is still not clear whether the UK PM would even want to get involved in the matter.

The BBC has not officially responded to Trump’s latest threats.