The British public broadcaster BBC apologized to US President Donald Trump on Monday for editing his speech to make it appear as if he was calling for violence, but rejected Trump's claim for damages, Reuters reported.
The broadcaster also announced that it would no longer air the program.
"While the BBC sincerely regrets the way the video was edited, we strongly disagree that there is a basis for a claim for defamation," the BBC said.
Trump has previously threatened to sue the BBC for $1 billion in damages, claiming the media organization made "false, defamatory, disparaging and inflammatory claims" about him in a documentary.
In a letter to the BBC, Trump's legal team demanded that a "full and fair retraction" of the documentary be issued, an apology be issued, and that the BBC "appropriately compensate President Trump for the harm caused to him."
The leaked memo, written by a former independent external advisor to the BBC's editorial standards board, suggests that Panorama's show edited parts of Trump's speech so that they were spliced together and made it appear as if he was explicitly inciting riots in Washington in January 2021.
The one-hour show "Trump: Second Chance" was broadcast in the UK just before the 2024 US presidential election.
Several BBC executives resigned over the controversial documentary featuring Trump's speech.
Trump's legal team: US President has not yet filed a lawsuit
Reuters also reported that Trump's legal team said today that the US president has not yet filed a lawsuit against the BBC over the way the broadcaster edited a speech he gave in 2021, the day his supporters stormed the Capitol.
Reuters also reports that Trump sent a letter to the BBC on Sunday threatening legal action against the broadcaster, which said this week that the editing was an "error in judgment." The letter demanded that the BBC issue an apology and pay Trump damages.
On Wednesday, White House spokeswoman Caroline Levitt said that Trump's legal representatives had filed the lawsuit.
The White House did not immediately respond to a subsequent request for comment on the statement.
A spokesman for Trump's legal team said the letter included a "deadline for a response (by the BBC) of Friday, November 14," but added that Trump's lawyers reserve the right to file a lawsuit before that date, if they choose.
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