“We have to do it, they’ve even admitted that they cheated,” the US president\u00a0told reporters overnight on Saturday<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n “Not that they couldn’t have not done that. They cheated. They changed the words coming out of my mouth.”<\/p>\n However, the lawsuit will not be easy, according to three experts who have spoken to Sky News.<\/p>\n “Filing a lawsuit is easy,” said Mark Stevens, media law solicitor at Howard Kennedy, to\u00a0Sky presenter Samantha Washington<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n “Winning one is, in this case, like trying to lasso a tornado: technically possible, but you’re going to need more than a cowboy hat.”<\/p>\n So why would this case be so hard to win?<\/p>\n Legal challenges<\/strong><\/p>\n Legal experts have said that Mr Trump would face challenges taking the case to court in the UK or the US.<\/p>\n The deadline to bring the case to UK courts, where defamation damages rarely exceed \u00a3100,000 ($132,000), has already expired because the documentary aired in October 2024, which is more than one year.<\/p>\n Also because the documentary was not shown in the US, it would be hard to show that Americans thought less of the president because of a programme they could not watch.<\/p>\n Where did the damage occur?<\/strong><\/p>\n The Panorama episode was not aired in the US, which may make Mr Trump’s case harder.<\/p>\n “For a libel claim to succeed, harm must occur where the case is brought,” said Mr Stevens.<\/p>\n “It’s hard to argue [for] that reputational damage in a jurisdiction where the content wasn’t aired.”<\/p>\n The president will also have to show that his reputation suffered actual harm.<\/p>\n “But his reputation was pretty damaged on this issue before,” said Mr Stevens.<\/p>\n “There have been judicial findings, congressional hearings, global media coverage around 6 January. Laying that responsibility for any further harm at the door of the BBC seems pretty tenuous.”<\/p>\n Was the mistake malicious?<\/strong><\/p>\n In order to sue someone for libel in the US, you have to prove they did it on purpose – or with ‘malicious intent’.<\/p>\n That might be hard to prove, according to Alan Rusbridger, editor of Prospect magazine and former editor-in-chief of the Guardian.<\/p>\n “I just don’t think that he can do that,” he said.<\/p>\n Since 1964, US public officials have had to prove that what was said against them was made with “knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard for the truth”.<\/p>\n “The reason for that, when the Supreme Court passed this in 1964, is the chilling effect on journalism,” said Mr Rusbridger.<\/p>\n “If a journalist makes a mistake, [and] this clearly was a mistake, if that ends up with their employers having to pay $1bn, $2bn, $3bn, that would be a dreadful chill on journalism.<\/p>\n “Unless Trump can prove that whoever this was who was editing this film did it with malice, the case is open and shut.”<\/p>\n Is he suing for too much money?<\/strong><\/p>\n Mr Trump says he’s going to sue for between $1bn and $5bn, figures former BBC legal correspondent Clive Coleman described as “very fanciful”.<\/p>\n “That, I think, is very fanciful because he will have to show that he has suffered billions of dollars worth of reputational damage.<\/p>\n “We know that this was back in 2020 when the speech was made. He went on to be successful in business and, of course, to be re-elected as US president.”<\/p>\n However, Mr Coleman did suggest the BBC should try to “bring this to an end as speedily as possible”.<\/p>\n “Litigation is always a commercial decision and it’s a reputational decision,” he said.<\/p>\n “The legal processes towards a court case are long and arduous and this is going to blow up in the news pretty regularly between now and then.”<\/p>\n Other news organisations facing litigation by Mr Trump have settled out of court for “sums like $15m, $16m”, according to Mr Coleman.<\/p>\n Source: \u00a0![\"Sky](\"http:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/sky-news-logo-1.png\"){kind=logo}
<\/a> news.sky.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"