BBC News says it received legal threat from Trump over speech edit

LONDON (Reuters) -BBC News said on Monday the broadcaster had received a letter from U.S. President Donald Trump threatening legal action over the edit of a documentary broadcast a week before the U.S. presidential election.

The BBC has acknowledged the Trump speech edit gave a misleading impression and should have been handled more carefully.

The documentary broadcast last year had spliced together two parts of a Trump speech so he appeared to be encouraging the Capitol Hill riot of January 2021.

“We will review the letter and respond directly in due course,” a BBC spokesperson told Reuters in an email.

Samir Shah, the chairman of the publicly-funded broadcaster, said in an interview with BBC News that it was “considering” how to respond to Trump’s communication.

When prompted about whether Trump would be suing the BBC, Shah said: “I do not know that yet, but he’s a litigious fellow, so we should be prepared for all outcomes.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Sam Tabahriti; Editing by Kate Holton)

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