The BBC has been accused of doctoring footage of a Donald Trump speech on Newsnight two years before a similarly edited clip was shown on Panorama.
Footage of a speech given by the US President on January 6, 2021, was edited in a way that appeared to show him inciting his followers to storm the Capitol building in Washington DC.
It was shown in an episode of Newsnight in June 2022, more than two years before a similarly spliced clip was aired in a BBC Panorama documentary.
Both clips seem to make it look as if the US president urged supporters to ‘walk down to the Capitol’ with him and ‘fight like hell’ – two statements that he made around an hour apart in his speech.
Concerns about the Newsnight footage were reportedly raised internally the day after it aired, although discussions were supposedly shut down.
Director-General Tim Davie dramatically resigned on Sunday alongside CEO of News Deobrah Turness following criticism viewers had been misled over the Panorama footage, which aired on October 28 last year.
The departure prompted praise from Mr Trump who described Mr Davie as ‘very honest’ and lamented the editing of his ‘very good (perfect!) speech’. He gave the BBC a Friday deadline to apologise, issue a retraction, and compensate him ‘for the harm caused’.
But the latest scandal risks plunging the corportation into further chaos, given the Newsnight footage aired two years before the Panorama edit – raising questions over why the same mistake was made twice.
Director-general Tim Davie quit the BBC on Sunday after five years in the corporation’s top job
The clip was aired in an episode of Newsnight on June 9, 2022, during a segment about the Senate committee hearings into the riots taking place at the time.
It showed Trump saying: ‘We’re gonna walk down to the Capitol and we’re gonna cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women… and we fight. We fight like hell.’
However during his actual speech, Trump says: ‘We’re gonna walk down to the Capitol and we’re gonna cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women and we’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them.’
More than 50 minutes later he adds: ‘And we fight. We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.’
Former White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, who previously described the riots as an ‘attempted coupe’, responded to the clip live on the same episode, claiming the edit had ‘spliced together’ Trump’s speech.
‘That line about “we fight and fight like hell” is actually later in the speech and yet your video makes it look like those two things came together,’ he tells the programme.
‘That’s the type of messaging here that so many people in my country find frustrating is that it’s hard to actually get the facts.
‘If we’re going to have a debate about what this was and prevent it from happening again, I think part of that is to make sure we’re straightforward in our presentation of what actually happened.’
The Telegraph also reported that concerns about the clip were raised during an editorial meeting the following day, but were later dismissed.
Donald Trump condemned the ‘corrupt’ BBC as he tore into director-general Tim Davie
Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Wednesday warned that the BBC should ‘get their house in order’ after Trump said he had an ‘obligation’ to sue the corporation for $1 billion over a misleading speech edit.
Speaking during PMQs, Starmer said he supported a ‘strong and independent BBC’ but he also believed it should ‘uphold the highest standards to be accountable and correct errors quickly’.
‘Where mistakes are made, they do need to get their house in order,’ he said in response to a question calling for him to urge Trump to abandon his legal threat.
Trump’s lawyers threatened the broadcaster with a billion-dollar lawsuit on Monday after the BBC apologised for giving the impression the president had urged ‘violent action’ ahead of the 2021 assault on the US Capitol.
A letter sent to BBC Chairman Samir Shah at Television Centre by Trump’s legal team in Florida said: ‘President Trump will be left with no alternative but to enforce his legal and equitable rights, all of which are expressly reserved and are not waived, including by filing legal action for no less than $1,000,000,000 (One Billion Dollars) in damages.
‘Due to their salacious nature, the fabricated statements that were aired by the BBC have been widely disseminated throughout various digital mediums, which have reached tens of millions of people worldwide.
‘Consequently, the BBC has caused President Trump to suffer overwhelming financial and reputational harm.’
The BBC said earlier this week it would ‘review the letter and respond directly in due course’.
The scandal was sparked by the leaking of an internal memo from a former standards adviser that listed what he said were failings in the BBC’s coverage of Trump, the Israel-Hamas war, and transgender rights.
The memo by Michael Prescott, a former Sunday Times political editor, set out what he said was a series of editorial failings that showed systemic left-wing bias at the BBC.
Prescott was an external adviser to the BBC’s Editorial Guidelines and Standards Committee that oversees coverage, compliance and complaints.
A BBC spokesperson said: ‘The BBC holds itself to the highest editorial standards. This matter has been brought to our attention and we are now looking into it.’
