BBC issues grovelling apology after doctoring Donald Trump speech TWICE but says 'no case for defamation'

They added the programme will "not be broadcast again in this form on any BBC platforms."

The episode, Trump: A Second Chance? has been taken down from the BBC website and a retraction was published on the webpage on Thursday evening.

The apology read: "This programme was reviewed after criticism of how President Donald Trump’s 6th January 2021 speech was edited. During that sequence, we showed excerpts taken from different parts of the speech.

"However, we accept that our edit unintentionally created the impression that we were showing a single continuous section of the speech, rather than excerpts from different points in the speech, and that this gave the mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action.

"The BBC would like to apologise to President Trump for that error of judgement.

"This programme was not scheduled to be re-broadcast and will not be broadcast again in this form on any BBC platforms."

A BBC spokesman continued: "Lawyers for the BBC have written to President Trump’s legal team in response to a letter received on Sunday.

"BBC chair Samir Shah has separately sent a personal letter to the White House making clear to President Trump that he and the corporation are sorry for the edit of the president’s speech on January 6, 2021, which featured in the programme.

"The BBC has no plans to rebroadcast the documentary Trump: A Second Chance? on any BBC platforms.

"While the BBC sincerely regrets the manner in which the video clip was edited, we strongly disagree there is a basis for a defamation claim."

WATCH: Sir Michael Ellis says the BBC are in 'utter denial' amid Donald Trump doctoring scandal

The BBC have said a Newsnight interview which appears to have spliced together parts of a Donald Trump speech from January 6 2021 has been "brought to our attention" and confirmed that they are "looking into it."

The Newsnight clip, broadcast on June 9, 2022 showed Mr Trump appearing to say: “We’re gonna walk down to the Capitol and we’re gonna cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women – and we fight. We fight like hell and if you don’t fight like hell you aren’t gonna have a country any more.”

The footage was broadcast more than two years before the same speech was edited in a Panorama programme in October 2024, for which the BBC have since apologised for.

A whistleblower told the Telegraph’s concerns about the Newsnight footage were raised during an editorial meeting the following morning, but were dismissed.