AILSA CHANG, HOST:
President Trump has sued ABC News and CBS News, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, and now he is looking overseas at the BBC. The British public broadcaster aired a documentary last year with an edited version of Trump's speech to supporters on January 6, 2021. These were remarks before the Capitol riot. Two leaders of the BBC have resigned. NPR's David Folkenflik joins us now with more. Hi, David.
DAVID FOLKENFLIK, BYLINE: Hey, Ailsa.
CHANG: Hey. OK, so President Trump is threatening to sue the BBC. Say more about what he's claiming here.
FOLKENFLIK: Well, he's pointing to this documentary that aired a couple weeks before last year's presidential elections in which they took two parts of his famous speech on that now, you know, notorious day - January 6, 2021 - and compressed them together. They were two parts of speech that were over 50 minutes apart. And he's basically saying it made it seem as though he was urging people on to violence, even though there was an element they didn't quote where he said, you know, that they would take part in something that would be peacefully and patriotically making their voices be heard.
And he's saying this is a form of defamation. He's demanding that the documentary be retracted, that the BBC apologize and they pay him, you know, a sizable sum. And he says, don't do that, I'll sue for at least a billion dollars...
CHANG: At least a billion dollars.
FOLKENFLIK: ...In court in Florida, is what he's threatening.
CHANG: OK. Well, how strong do you think his legal case is?
FOLKENFLIK: Well, look, NPR has a policy, and other - some other major mainstream news organizations do as well, where they say you don't do these what are called internal edits on the president of the United States or somebody running for president in that way. You want to make sure there's transparency about the - you know, rigorous transparency about how context is presented.
You know, in that letter of warning that the president's lawyers sent to the BBC, they talk about the fact that - defenses that you can offer about certain kinds of opinion expressions being protected under the law, and particularly in Florida law, that those don't apply here. But I think they actually do provide something of a roadmap for a potential defense that is not only if it's David's opinion, but, you know, if it's David's analysis, there's more expansive protections under case law for that. I think that's something the BBC could argue for a documentary approach of events that had happened, you know, several years before and been covered widely. You know, we'll see how a judge would respond to that if a lawsuit's filed.
CHANG: Well, David, for those of us here in the U.S., explain why it does matter if the president sues the BBC.
FOLKENFLIK: Well, look, this is the playbook - right? - where he goes after news organizations. You listed several he had sued. CBS and ABC settled lawsuits making, you know, major payments off to - in Trump's interests. And in other ways, he's attempting to discredit news organizations by doing this. In the meantime, he's helping this ally of his - a far-right figure who's become in some ways prominent in the multiparty system in the U.K. - and that's Nigel Farage.
And either way, if Trump prevails, if Trump does not prevail, it's a way to undercut the standing of the press. He can discredit it in the eyes of its supporters. He can point to something that genuinely the BBC screwed up. And there's no doubt of that. You had its CEO and its top editor step down. And even if you lose or this case is withdrawn or never filed, he gets to say, look, I'm pointing out how the mainstream press is out to get me, and you should believe what I have to say.
CHANG: That is NPR's David Folkenflik. Thank you, David.
FOLKENFLIK: You bet.
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