A federal judge in Florida has decided to proceed with the defamation lawsuit filed by the President of the United States, Donald Trump, against the British public broadcaster BBC, to which he is seeking compensation close to 9,000 million euros.
The magistrate rejected the accusations raised by Trump under state law on unfair trade practices, but he has given the go-ahead to the claim for damages. The origin of the litigation lies in the broadcast of the program Panorama, which would have altered the meaning of the statements made by the president by assembling two different excerpts from a prior speech given before the assault on the United States Capitol in 2021.
"The question of whether President Trump can prove these allegations and demonstrate that he suffered damages and losses at the summary-judgment stage or at trial remains pending for another time," said Judge Jeffrey T. Kuntz, of the federal court for the Southern District of Florida.
The tenant of the White House has described this procedural advance as a "great victory against fake news," celebrating the "judicial beating" for the BBC, which he defines as "a terrible manipulator of the truth."
Along the same lines, Trump highlights that the ruling is "decisive" and that it determines that the media outlet itself "created the news." "We will keep fighting and defeating everyone who tries to fool the American people," he proclaimed in a message shared on social media.
For its part, the BBC has expressed in a statement its "surprise" at the ruling, although it says it will comply with the court's decision, which with this ruling opens a new stage in the judicial proceedings.
"We continue to trust in our position and we will continue responding through the corresponding legal channels," the British public broadcaster stressed. The BBC already officially apologized to Trump for the challenged content, which triggered a severe internal crisis within the corporation and ultimately led to the resignation of the CEO Tim Davie.