White House now looking into BBC over 'slick and deliberate' doctoring of Donald Trump's speech, claims journalist

Detailing the leaked 19-page dossier into the BBC Panorama documentary, Mr Rayner said the broadcaster made it appear to be a "seamless soundbite" from the US President encouraging the Capitol riot.

In the Panorama programme, Mr Trump appears to say: "We're gonna walk down to the Capitol and I'll be there with you and we fight. We fight like hell and if you don't fight like hell you're not gonna have a country any more."

However, the US President told the crowds that "everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard".

Discussing his exposé on GB News, Mr Rayner said: "It's actually three pieces of footage. When you dissect it, two of them were very close together, but one was an hour later, and it's a very slick bit of editing.

"I think the important thing to get across to people is that people seeing this for the first time, there is nothing to let the viewers know that this is edited. It's very, very slick, and it looks like a seamless soundbite."

He added: "After they've effectively created a quote that Trump didn't say, they then show footage of the Proud Boys marching on the Capitol as if that happened in reaction to Trump speaking.

"That video of the Proud Boys marching on the Capitol actually happened an hour before Trump started speaking. And again, there is nothing to tell the viewers that that was the correct sequence."

As Martin highlighted that the White House "may have a case" against the BBC, Mr Rayner revealed that they are in fact "looking into" the doctored footage.

He explained: "I know that it is already being looked at by the White House. We're in contact with the White House, and they are reviewing it at the moment. I would be surprised if they don't say anything about it fairly soon, frankly.

"You can't just make it look as though somebody has said something that they didn't, and that is exactly what the BBC's own internal memo says, written by somebody who had served on their editorial guidelines and standards committee. They were very unhappy about this.

"They said that they'd made Trump appear to say something he hadn't, and they said themselves in that report, 'why should anybody trust the BBC? Where will this all end?'"

Noting the timing of the release documentary, a week before the US election, Mr Rayner suggested that it could, in the worst-case scenario, be an attempt to "influence the US election".

He concluded: "We don't want to overplay this, but certainly in the worst-case scenario, it does appear to be an attempt to influence the election. When you see it, you'll understand.

"There's no way that this happened by accident. It was clearly a deliberate decision to put these clips together to make it look as though he says one thing, and then the riots happen."

A BBC spokesman said in a statement: "While we don't comment on leaked documents, when the BBC receives feedback it takes it seriously and considers it carefully.

"Michael Prescott is a former adviser to a board committee where differing views and opinions of our coverage are routinely discussed and debates."