REUTERS, London

BBC News said yesterday the broadcaster had received a letter from US President Donald Trump threatening legal action over the edit of a documentary broadcast a week before the US presidential election.

The BBC has acknowledged the Trump speech edit gave a misleading impression and should have been handled more carefully. The documentary broadcast last year had spliced together two parts of a Trump speech so he appeared to be encouraging the Capitol Hill riot of January 2021. “We will review the letter and respond directly in due course,” a BBC spokesperson told Reuters.

Samir Shah, the chairman of the publicly-funded broadcaster, said in an interview with BBC News that it was “considering” how to respond to Trump’s communication. When prompted about whether Trump would be suing the BBC, Shah said: “I do not know that yet, but he’s a litigious fellow, so we should be prepared for all outcomes.”