CaliToday (18/11/2025): The former UK Prime Minister slammed the British broadcaster for "lying, cheating, and distortion," as the network faces a reckoning over a deceptively edited video.
Former UK Prime Minister Liz Truss has thrown her full support behind President Donald Trump’s plan to launch a $1 billion lawsuit against the BBC. The move comes after the British state-funded network was exposed for deceptively editing a video of Trump's speech from January 6, 2021, in what critics are calling a blatant act of media manipulation.
The scandal erupted when it was revealed that the BBC had spliced two different segments of the president's speech. The network admitted to removing his specific call for supporters to "march peacefully and patriotically" and replacing it with a phrase from a completely different context—"fight like hell"—to create the misleading impression that Trump was inciting violence.
Appearing on "Fox & Friends Weekend," Liz Truss stated that many people in the UK "absolutely support President Trump in suing the BBC." She described the network's actions as "lying, cheating, and distortion."
Truss argued that the BBC's influence is not just a problem for the UK but also actively harms the United States by "continuously spreading fake news" about President Trump and the MAGA movement.
"The BBC used to be a global journalistic icon," Truss declared. "Now they are a circus—and it is time to end this rot."
Executive Resignations and an Apology
In the wake of widespread outrage, the BBC issued an apology and confirmed that the Panorama program containing the doctored clip would not be broadcast again. The scandal has already led to the immediate resignations of the BBC's two highest-ranking leaders: Director-General Tim Davie and News Director Deborah Turness.
Furthermore, BBC Chairman Samir Shah sent a direct letter of apology to the White House and to President Trump.
Despite these significant concessions, the network has stated it will not pay any financial compensation.
"Apology Is Not Enough"
Truss, along with other critics, insists that the apology is insufficient and that President Trump should proceed with the lawsuit to achieve true accountability.
Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett affirmed that the BBC's conduct represents clear defamation under UK law. He argued that the apology itself is an admission of guilt that cannot undo the harm caused.
"They know what they did was wrong, which is why they apologized and pulled the video," Jarrett said. "But that doesn’t erase the damage President Trump has suffered."
President Trump stated he feels "forced to sue," labeling the deceptive edit a "brazen interference" designed to distort the historical record. He indicated plans to speak directly with UK PrimeB Minister Keir Starmer over the weekend before formally filing the suit.
The scandal has plunged the BBC into an international firestorm. For millions of MAGA supporters, it serves as definitive proof of the political bias and information manipulation they have long accused left-wing media organizations of perpetrating.