US President Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit against the BBC, accusing the British public broadcaster of defamation and unfair trade practices over a documentary that included edited clips of his January 6, 2021 speech to supporters.

The 33-page lawsuit was filed on Monday in a federal court in Miami. President Trump is seeking damages of up to $10 billion, citing two counts: defamation and violation of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.

According to the lawsuit, the BBC broadcast a “false, defamatory, deceptive, disparaging, inflammatory, and malicious depiction” of President Trump by splicing together two separate excerpts from his January 6, 2021 speech. The lawsuit claims that the editing gave viewers the misleading impression that Trump directly incited violence ahead of the Capitol riots.

The legal filing further alleges that the BBC’s actions amounted to a “brazen attempt to interfere in and influence” the 2024 US presidential election.

President Trump is seeking no less than $5 billion in damages for each of the two claims included in the lawsuit.

The BBC has issued an apology, acknowledging an error of judgment in the editing of the documentary. The broadcaster admitted that the edited clips mistakenly created the impression that Trump had made a direct call for violence prior to the riots.

However, the BBC has maintained that there is no legal basis for the lawsuit. In response, the lawsuit argues that despite the apology, the broadcaster “has made no showing of actual remorse for its wrongdoing nor meaningful institutional changes to prevent future journalistic abuses.”

The documentary at the centre of the legal action was aired on Panorama, the BBC’s flagship investigative journalism programme.

The controversy has triggered one of the most serious crises in the BBC’s 103-year history. Last month, BBC Director General Tim Davie and Chief Executive of News Deborah Turness resigned following allegations linked to the documentary.

The programme came under scrutiny after a leaked internal dossier raised concerns about its editing and formed part of a broader investigation into potential political bias at the publicly funded broadcaster.