The BBC has issued an apology to US President Donald Trump over the edition of Panorama that edited together two parts of his 6 January 2021 speech.
However, the Corporation rejected his demands for $1 billion in damages.
“Lawyers for the BBC have written to President Trump’s legal team in response to a letter received on Sunday,” the BBC said in a statement.
“BBC Chair Samir Shah has separately sent a personal letter to the White House making clear to President Trump that he and the Corporation are sorry for the edit of the President’s speech on 6 January 2021, which featured in the programme.
“The BBC has no plans to rebroadcast the documentary ‘Trump: A Second Chance?’ on any BBC platforms.
“While the BBC sincerely regrets the manner in which the video clip was edited, we strongly disagree there is a basis for a defamation claim.”
The President’s legal team gave the BBC a deadline of 22:00 GMT on Friday to respond.
It has emerged that the Panorama programme was never shown in the United States because of rights issues. While Panorama is rarely repeated in the UK there is a library of older editions available on BBC iPlayer.
The apology comes hours after the emergence of a second clip of President Trump, edited in a similar manner, and broadcast on Newsnight in 2022.
Details of the Newsnight clip had first appeared in the Daily Telegraph – no friend of the BBC – which had also obtained a leaked memo from former BBC advisor Michael Prescott.
In the memo, Mr Prescott claimed there was “anti-Israel bias” in BBC Arabic’s coverage. He also wrote that several contributors selectively covered stories that were critical of Israel.
