After Tim Davie and Deborah Turness quit and Samir Shah apologises, US leader claims broadcaster ‘tried to interfere in election’

Donald Trump has threatened to sue the BBC for $1bn (£760m), his legal team says, accusing the corporation of trying to “interfere in the presidential election” last year by selectively editing one of his speeches for a Panorama episode.

The letter to the broadcaster signalling legal action marks a major escalation in the row over the documentary, which critics claim painted a misleading portrait of the US president’s speech on 6 January 2021, removing a section when he said he wanted supporters to demonstrate peacefully. 

The corporation said on Monday it was reviewing the letter and would “respond directly in due course”.

BBC chair Samir Shah has meanwhile apologised and described the editing of the speech as an “error of judgement”.

A leaked memo had raised concerns that clips of Mr Trump's speech had been spliced together to give the impression he had told supporters he would walk to the US Capitol with them to "fight like hell".

Director-general Tim Davie and the head of BBC News Deborah Turness resigned on Sunday over the episode, which aired the week before the US elections last year. By Athena Stavrou,Kate Devlin,David Maddox,Jane Dalton,Shweta Sharma, Independent