White House slams 'fake news' BBC over Trump edit amid threat to 'bankrupt' broadcaster

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has slammed the BBC for its "fake news" edit of Donald Trump as the US President threatens to sue the BBC. The corporation has faced fierce criticism from Mr Trump over a report in which two segments of a 2020 speech were spliced together to make it appear as if he had encouraged protesters to storm the Capitol.

Ms Leavitt, questioned by a GB News reporter, said Mr Trump has a good relationship with PM Sir Keir Starmer, but branded the corporation a "leftist propaganda machine" and said it was "unfortunate" it was subsidised by UK taxpayers. Mr Trump's external legal counsel has filed a lawsuit, but Ms Leavitt said of the BBC: "Whether they apologise or not is up to them."

Speaking on Wednesday, Mr Trump said: "US President Donald Trump said the BBC "defrauded the public" and that he had an "obligation" to take legal action over the editing of a speech.

Director-general Tim Davie quit on Sunday amid a scandal over the editing of a speech by Mr Trump before the attack on the US Capitol on January 6 2021.

Mr Trump reiterated his threat of launching a billion-dollar legal action during an interview on Fox News.

He added: "I think I have an obligation to do it, you can't allow people to do that.

"I guess I have to. They defrauded the public and they've admitted it. This is within one of our great allies, supposedly our great ally.

"That's a pretty sad event. They actually changed my January 6 speech, which was a beautiful speech, which was a very calming speech, and they made it sound radical.

"They showed me the results of how they butchered it up. It was very dishonest and the head man quit and a lot of the other people quit."

UPDATES TO FOLLOW...