Donald Trump criticises BBC as ‘corrupt, fraudulent news’
By Press Association reporter
The BBC is “corrupt, fraudulent news”, US President Donald Trump said, as he accused the broadcaster of editing his speech with artificial intelligence (AI).
The corporation filed a motion to dismiss Trump’s $10 billion defamation lawsuit over an edit of a Panorama documentary on Monday.
The programme faced criticism last year over an episode broadcast in 2024 for giving the impression the US president had encouraged his supporters to storm the Capitol building in 2021 after he had lost the election to Joe Biden.
BBC director-general Tim Davie resigned following the allegations that Panorama selectively edited Trump’s speech.
BBC chairman Samir Shah apologised on behalf of the broadcaster over an “error of judgment” and accepted the editing of the 2024 documentary gave “the impression of a direct call for violent action”.
Asked about his lawsuit on Tuesday, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that footage had been edited and claimed that AI had been used to generate clips.
“They put words in my mouth and they said I said some pretty bad things and I didn’t say them, it was AI generated.
“And I said ‘I never said that’. Some of my people said: ‘Wow, that was pretty bad stuff you said’, I said ‘What did I say?’
“I’m pretty good at this stuff. I mean, if you can go through years of these press conferences and you’re the popular president of the United States that won in a landslide, that won all seven swing states, that got record numbers of votes – I guess I’m okay at this stuff.
“I said ‘I never said that’ and then we found out it was AI generated.”
Trump also criticised the BBC’s coverage of the US war on Iran as “so inaccurate” and “unbelievable”.
“We have decimated that country and if you watch BBC it’s almost like they’re fighting us to a draw.”
He added: “It was very inaccurate news, it was fake news.
“I’m very proud of the term ‘fake news’ because it was my term, I came up with it – but it’s no longer accurate.
“It really is corrupt, fraudulent news. It really is – it’s fraudulent.
“It’s not just fake, it’s beyond fake. It’s really criminal what they do.”
Asked about the lawsuit against the broadcaster, Mr Trump said he would “see how it comes out”.
The BBC has been contacted for comment.
