Exclusive: BBC doctored Trump speech, internal report reveals
The BBC doctored a Donald Trump speech by making him appear to encourage the Capitol Hill riot, according to an internal whistleblowing memo seen by The Telegraph.
A Panorama programme, broadcast a week before the US election, “completely misled” viewers by showing the president telling supporters he was going to walk to the Capitol with them to “fight like hell”, when in fact he said he would walk with them “to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard”.
The “mangled” footage was highlighted in a 19-page dossier on BBC bias, which was compiled by a recent member of the corporation’s standards committee and is now circulating in government departments.
The dossier said the programme made the US president “‘say’ things [he] never actually said” by splicing together footage from the start of his speech with something he said nearly an hour later.
It claimed senior executives and the BBC’s chairman had ignored and dismissed a string of serious complaints raised by the corporation’s own standards watchdog.
Donald Trump Jr, the president’s eldest son, accused the BBC of dishonesty and “fake news”.
He reposted The Telegraph’s story on X, writing: “The FAKE NEWS ‘reporters’ in the UK are just as dishonest and full of s--- as the ones here in America!!!!”
The Telegraph will soon publish other excerpts of the memo, which accuse the BBC’s Arabic service of bias over its coverage of the war in Gaza, and accuse the corporation of “effective censorship” of its coverage of the transgender debate.
The document raises serious questions about the culture at the BBC, how it affects impartiality and how managers including Tim Davie, the director-general, are accused of turning a blind eye to evidence of bias.
The Conservatives have demanded an immediate investigation into how the Panorama documentary was allowed to be broadcast.
Nigel Huddleston, the shadow culture secretary, said: “These are extremely concerning revelations that could seriously undermine the brand and reputation of the BBC.
“The BBC licence fee is justified on the basis of impartiality and trust.
“There can be no justification for this kind of deliberate manipulation and the spreading of misinformation. “This is not the first time that evidence of bias at the BBC has emerged, but it is one of the most stark and alarming examples to date.
“Licence-fee payers deserve an immediate explanation and apology from the BBC and a thorough investigation into this scandal must take place.”
The most damaging disclosures involve a one-hour Panorama special called Trump: A Second Chance? that was broadcast in October last year.
As well as altering Mr Trump’s words, the documentary also showed flag-waving men marching on the Capitol in Washington DC on Jan 6 2021 after the president spoke, which “created the impression Trump’s supporters had taken up his ‘call to arms’”. In fact the footage, was shot before Mr Trump had even started speaking.
The report said Panorama’s “distortion of the day’s events” was so egregious that viewers would ask: “Why should the BBC be trusted, and where will this all end?”
When the issue was raised with managers, they “refused to accept there had been a breach of standards”. The report’s author then warned Samir Shah, the BBC chairman, of the “very, very dangerous precedent” set by Panorama but received no reply.
The internal whistleblower sent a copy of the 19-page letter to every member of the BBC Board last month.
Boris Johnson, the former prime minister, called the revelation a “total disgrace”.
This is a total disgrace. The BBC has doctored footage of Trump to make it look as though he incited a riot - when he in fact said no such thing. We have Britain's national broadcaster using a flagship programme to tell palpable untruths about Britain's closest ally. Is anyone at…
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) November 3, 2025
Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, said: “It’s no wonder that fewer people are paying the BBC licence fee every single year.”
Former BBC radio presenter Liz Kershaw said on X: “This is no surprise to me. I presented news and current affairs programmes on the BBC on four stations from 1993 to 2011. The biased groupthink among its journalists was outrageous and had to be fought and rebalanced every day.”
Caroline Dinenage, the chairman of the Commons culture, media and sport select committee (DCMS) said: “At a time when trust in both politics and mainstream media is so low, our state broadcaster has an additional responsibility to ensure that it reports contentious and potentially inflammatory issues with a straight bat.
