Prescott’s dossier accused Panorama of “splicing” together quotes in such a way that viewers were “materially misled” – saying that due to editing portions of his speech together, it seemed like Trump had incited the Capitol riots, something that multiple investigations found Trump did, in fact, do.
His document goes on to set out what Prescott claims Trump actually said:
“Fifteen minutes into the speech, what Trump actually said: ‘We are gonna walk down to the Capitol and I’ll be with you. I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.’ It was completely misleading to edit the clip in the way Panorama aired it.”
However, there is an issue with Prescott’s claims here. This is not what Donald Trump actually said in his speech. Prescott has heavily edited the remarks, changing their meaning. And just as Prescott claims there are rules for television, on making it clear when you have edited or abridged a quote, these exist in print, too. If you are abridging a quote, you signify it with an ellipsis. Prescott has not done this.
The full version of the quote that Prescott cites reads very differently. Here it is below, with the sections Prescott uses in bold.
“We’re gonna walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women, and we’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them.
Because you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and 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, lawfully slated.
I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”
The words “And I’ll be with you” were actually said before the first phrase in that quote, but Trump rambled and repeated himself several times. Prescott might claim that he was just tidying up the quote – but look at the material that he cut. Several of the cut sentences can be interpreted as threats.
The smoking gun quote that brought down two of the most senior editors at the BBC was itself misleadingly edited. But unlike the BBC’s edits – which at least accurately conveyed the overall impression of the march – Prescott’s edits gave a false impression of the comments.
