US President Donald Trump has said he has an “obligation” to sue the BBC over the way a section of his speech was edited in a Panorama documentary.
Speaking to Fox News, he said his 6 January 2021 speech had been “butchered” and the way it was presented had “defrauded” viewers.
It is the first time Trump has spoken publicly about the matter since his lawyers wrote to the BBC and said he would sue for $1bn in damages unless the corporation issues a retraction, apologizes and compensates him.
BBC chair Samir Shah has previously apologized for an “error of judgement” over the edit.
Appearing on Fox News’s The Ingraham Angle, the president was asked if he would go ahead with the lawsuit, responding “well I guess I have to, you know, why not, because they defrauded the public, and they’ve admitted it”.
Trump continued: “They actually changed my January 6 speech, which was a beautiful speech, which was a very calming speech, and they made it sound radical.
“And they actually changed it. What they did was rather incredible.”
Asked again if he would proceed with the legal action, he said: “Well I think I have an obligation to do it, because you can’t get people, you can’t allow people to do that.”
