BBC accused of misleading viewers on Trump speech two years before Panorama edit

The edit of the speech played in the Panorama episode has recently attracted heavy criticism (James Manning/PA)

The BBC had been accused of misleading viewers on Donald Trump’s US Capitol speech more than two years before the controversial Panorama edit aired, it has been reported.

In an episode broadcast in June 2022, BBC Newsnight reportedly played an edit of the US president’s speech which was similar to the one used in a Panorama programme in October 2024 – both of which made it appear as if he was explicitly urging people to attack the Capitol on January 6 2021.

The edit of the speech played in the Panorama episode has recently attracted heavy criticism, with Mr Trump announcing his “obligation” to launch a billion-dollar lawsuit against the BBC, and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer saying the corporation needed to “get their house in order”.

This matter has been brought to our attention and we are now looking into it

The scandal, for which the BBC has apologised, has also led to high-profile resignations, with BBC director-general Tim Davie and news chief Deborah Turness quitting on Sunday.

On Thursday, The Telegraph reported that a similar version of the edit was used on BBC Newsnight more than two years earlier, with a freelancer for the programme telling the newspaper’s podcast that concerns raised about the footage at an editorial meeting were waved away.

The clip showed Mr Trump appearing to say: “We’re gonna walk down to the Capitol and we’re gonna cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women – and we fight. We fight like hell and if you don’t fight like hell you aren’t gonna have a country any more.”

A BBC spokesperson said: “The BBC holds itself to the highest editorial standards. This matter has been brought to our attention and we are now looking into it.”

According to The Daily T podcast, Mick Mulvaney, a guest on the Newsnight episode, said live on air that the footage “spliced together” separate parts of the speech.

In audio of the footage, Mr Trump’s former chief of staff-turned-special envoy to Northern Ireland, who resigned after the 2021 events at the Capitol, said: “Your video actually spliced together the presentation.

“He said we’re going to go down and we’re going to cheer on our senators and our house members… and that line about ‘and we fight and fight like hell’ is actually later in the speech, yet your video makes it look like those two things came together.”

BBC director-general Tim Davie resigned over the scandal (Lucy North/PA)

The lines are said to have been delivered 54 minutes apart.

“That’s the type of messaging here that so many people in my country find frustrating is that it’s hard to actually get the facts,” Mr Mulvaney said.

“If we’re going to have a debate about what this was and prevent it from happening again, I think part of that is to make sure we’re straightforward in our presentation of what actually happened.”

Concerns about the footage were flagged in a Newsnight editorial meeting the next day, a graphics designer for the episode, David Chaudoir, told The Telegraph’s podcast hosts.

Mr Chaudoir said: “Sometimes there would be a little post-mortem of the show from the night before.

“Somebody brought it up saying: ‘What happened with that clip of Trump?’

“One producer said: ‘How did that go out’? ‘Why did that happen?’

“And the editorial editor, not the VT (video tape) editor, kind of brushed it off and I thought that that was extraordinary, that something like that had gone out.”

🚨TRUMP TAKES ON THE @BBC.🚨

“They DEFRAUDED the public — and they ADMITTED it.”

He told me a lawsuit is coming after the network cut and twisted his Jan. 6 speech. pic.twitter.com/SG1kpC2B2h

— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) November 12, 2025

Mr Trump has said the BBC “defrauded the public” over the editing of his speech in the Panorama programme.

A legal letter, from Trump counsel Alejandro Brito, has demanded that “false, defamatory, disparaging and inflammatory statements” made about Mr Trump be retracted immediately.

The letter says if the BBC “does not comply”, Mr Trump will be “left with no alternative but to enforce his legal and equitable rights, all of which are expressly reserved and are not waived, including by filing legal action for no less than 1,000,000,000 dollars in damages”.

At Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey claimed Mr Trump was “trying to destroy our BBC” and called on Sir Keir to “tell President Trump to drop his demand for a billion-dollar settlement” and guarantee that he “will not get a single penny from British licence fee payers”.

Sir Keir said: “I believe in a strong and independent BBC. Some would rather the BBC didn’t exist. Some of them are sitting up there. I’m not one of them.

“In an age of disinformation, the argument for impartial British news service is stronger than ever, and where mistakes are made, they do need to get their house in order, and the BBC must uphold the highest standards to be accountable and correct errors quickly.”