President Donald Trump has threatened to sue the BBC for $1 billion over how the editing of his speech in a Panorama documentary, calling it "false and defamatory". The BBC chair Samir Shah has apologised for an "error of judgement" over the edit, and said the BBC was considering how to respond to Trump.

Matt Chorley, Justin, Anthony and Marianna discuss what Trump actually said in his January 6th speech, Trump’s long battle with the mainstream media, and what this could mean for the BBC.

We also look at the US government shutdown, Elon Musk launching a rival to Wikipedia, and whether a return of Barack Obama to politics could be possible.

HOSTS: * Justin Webb, Radio 4 presenter * Anthony Zurcher, North America correspondent * Marianna Spring, Social Media Investigations correspondent

GET IN TOUCH: * Join our online community: https://discord.gg/qSrxqNcmRB * Send us a message or voice note via WhatsApp to +44 330 123 9480 * Email Americast@bbc.co.uk * Or use #Americast

This episode was made by Rufus Gray with Alix Pickles and Grace Reeve. The technical producer was Ben Andrews. The series producer is Purvee Pattni. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.

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