Two British Broadcasting Corporation, BBC Chiefs have resigned from the broadcasting company on Sunday, November 9, 2025.
The two BBC Chiefs, Director-General Tim Davie and CEO of BBC News Deborah Turness, resigned on Sunday amid allegations that they edited a speech by United States President Donald Trump.
The resignations follow intense scrutiny and mounting accusations of institutional bias over a Panorama documentary, which critics say manipulated Trump’s January 6, 2021, remarks regarding the U.S. Capitol.
The controversy centers on a documentary aired just a week before the 2024 U.S election, which allegedly spliced together separate clips from Trump’s January 6, 2021, speech to make it appear as though he was directly inciting violence at the U.S Capitol.
Announcing his resignation, Davie said in a statement posted on the BBC website: “Like all public organisations, the BBC is not perfect, and we must always be open, transparent and accountable.
“While not being the only reason, the current debate around BBC News has understandably contributed to my decision… I have to take ultimate responsibility.”
After the two BBC Chiefs resigned, Trump broke his silence, calling them “corrupt journalists” who had been exposed, adding “these are very dishonest people who tried to step on the scales of a Presidential Election”.
He said: “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 wrote.
“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. 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!”
Pan-Atlantic Kompass reports that the two resignations follow a Daily Telegraph report that said concerns were first raised in the summer in a leaked memo on impartiality by Michael Prescott, a former external adviser to the BBC’s editorial standards committee.
According to the Daily Telegraph, Prescott criticised the editing of a speech by Donald Trump in an edition of Panorama, which he claimed made it appear that Trump had encouraged the US Capitol attack.
Checks revealed that the below is the transcript of the clip, BBC used in its Panorama report.
“We’re gonna walk down to the Capitol, and I’ll be with you, and we’ll fight. We fight like hell and if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not gonna have a country anymore.”
However, below is the sequence of Trump’s speech on that day.
“After this, we’re going to walk down – and I’ll be there with you – we’re gonna walk down, we’re gonna walk down anyone you want, but I think right here, we’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave congressmen and women, and we probably not gonna be cheering so much for some of them. Because you’re never going to take back our country with weakness you have to be strong. We have come to demand that Congress do the right thing, and only count the electors who have been lawfully slated. I know that everyone will soon be marching down to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make their voices heard.”
The “fight like hell” line, which has been controversial, came about an hour later, at the end of the speech.
“And again, most people would stand there at 9 p.m. and say I want to thank you very much, and they go off to some other life. But I said something’s wrong here, something is really wrong, can’t have happened. And we fight. We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore. Our exciting adventures and boldest endeavours have not yet begun. My fellow Americans, for our movement, for our children, and for our beloved country. And I say this despite all that’s happened. The best is yet to come. So we’re going to, we’re going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue. I love Pennsylvania Avenue. And we’re going to the Capitol. The Democrats are hopeless, they never vote for anything. Not even one vote. But we’re going to try and give our Republicans, the weak ones because the strong ones don’t need any of our help. We’re going to try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country. So let’s walk down Pennsylvania Avenue. I want to thank you all. God bless you and God Bless America.”
Pan-Atlantic Kompass reports also that following Trump’s speech a riot at the Capitol building unfolded that afternoon.
Since then, Trump has been battling allegations that he was responsible for the attack on the U.S Capitol.
However, the president and his team have always claimed the “fight like hell” comment was purely rhetorical, and they have dismissed accusations that Trump encouraged the unrest.
Trump’s alleged role in the unrest was the subject of a federal criminal case. The president was indicted on four felony counts.
The case was dismissed by federal prosecutors following his 2024 election victory because of a long-standing policy that prohibits the prosecution of sitting presidents.
