Trump celebrates BBC bosses’ resignation over ‘doctored’ footage: ‘They were caught’

WASHINGTON, DC: President Donald Trump celebrated on Truth Social on Sunday afternoon, November 9, after BBC Director General Tim Davie and News CEO Deborah Turness abruptly resigned. Their departures followed growing backlash over allegations that the BBC’s 'Panorama' program doctored footage of Trump’s January 6 speech to make it appear he incited the Capitol riots.

Donald Trump calls out BBC leaders after their resignation

In his Truth Social post, Trump praised The Telegraph for revealing that the BBC had allegedly edited a program to make it appear he told his supporters to “fight.” He directly called out BBC leaders, writing, “The top people in the BBC, including TIM DAVIE, the BOSS, are all quitting/FIRED, because they were caught ‘doctoring’ my very good (PERFECT!) speech of January 6th."

He thanked The Telegraph for uncovering the scandal, saying, “Thank you to The Telegraph for exposing these Corrupt ‘Journalists.’ These are very dishonest people who tried to step on the scales of a Presidential Election.”

Trump ended his post by voicing concern, adding, “On top of everything else, they are from a foreign country, one that many consider our Number One Ally. What a terrible thing for Democracy!”

Tim Davie and Deborah Turness release resignation statements

Two of the BBC’s top executives, Director General Tim Davie and News CEO Deborah Turness, resigned after reports claimed that the network’s flagship program 'Panorama' had “doctored” footage of a Donald Trump speech.

Turness resigned on Saturday, November 8, and Davie followed on Sunday, less than a week after The Telegraph reported that editors of 'Panorama’s' October 2024 special, Trump: A Second Chance?, had changed the order of clips from Trump’s 2021 speech.

In his resignation statement, Davie said, “There have been some mistakes made, and as Director General, I have to take ultimate responsibility.” He didn’t mention the 'Panorama' issue directly but thanked the BBC board for its “unswerving and unanimous support.”

Turness said the controversy surrounding the 'Panorama' episode on Trump had grown so serious that it was harming the BBC, “an institution that I love.”

She added, “The ongoing controversy around the 'Panorama' on President Trump has reached a stage where it is causing damage to the BBC, an institution that I love.”

While she said she did not believe the report showed “institutional bias,” she accepted responsibility for the fallout, adding, “The buck stops with me.”

What The Telegraph reported about the doctored footage

The Telegraph reported that producers of the BBC program 'Panorama' allegedly edited Donald Trump’s speech to make it seem as if he urged supporters to “fight like hell” before the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.

In the full, unedited version of the speech, Trump also told the crowd to “peacefully and patriotically” make their voices heard—a line reportedly left out of the broadcast.

An internal review by former media adviser Michael Prescott, obtained by The Telegraph, found that Panorama had “spliced together two clips from different parts of the speech,” creating the false impression that Trump had called for violence. Prescott wrote in a leaked memo, “This created the impression that Trump said something he did not and, in doing so, materially misled viewers.”

The review also found that the program used crowd footage filmed before Trump began speaking, making it appear as if his words had triggered the aggression.