Former BBC director-general Lord Tony Hall said during an interview with the network that the company should not agree to pay President Donald Trump any money amid the president's lawsuit threat. Trump said Friday he planned to sue the BBC for up to $5 billion over a network documentary's misleading edit of his remarks from Jan. 6, 2021. A similar edit was found on the network's "Newsnight" program in 2022. "I don’t think we should agree to any money being paid to Donald Trump. You’re talking about license fee payers’ money, you’re talking about public money. It would not be appropriate," he said in an interview with the BBC on Sunday.The BBC has faced heavy criticism over a "BBC Panorama" documentary about Trump’s Jan. 6, 2021, speech delivered before the attack on the U.S. Capitol. Critics say the documentary was misleading because it omitted Trump urging supporters to protest "peacefully" and spliced together remarks made nearly an hour apart to appear as one continuous statement.OUTGOING BOSS INSISTS BBC ‘NOT INSTITUTIONALLY BIASED’ DESPITE STEPPING DOWN OVER TRUMP DOCUMENTARY SCANDALThe BBC issued an apology to Trump on Thursday."Lawyers for the BBC have written to President Trump's legal team in response to a letter received on Sunday," a BBC spokesperson said. "BBC chair Samir Shah has separately sent a personal letter to the White House making clear to President Trump that he and the corporation are sorry for the edit of the president's speech on 6 January 2021, which featured in the programme."The spokesperson said the BBC has "no plans" to rebroadcast the documentary at the center of the controversy on any of its platforms.FORMER UK PRIME MINISTER SLAMS BBC AS ‘LAUGHINGSTOCK’ WHILE TRUMP READIES $1B LAWSUIT OVER JAN 6 VIDEO SCANDALThe BBC spokesperson also said that while they regret how the program was edited, "we strongly disagree there is a basis for a defamation claim."Trump, speaking to reporters on Air Force One on Friday, said he believes he has to sue the BBC."I think I have to do it. They’ve even admitted that they cheated … They changed the words coming out of my mouth. The people of the UK are very angry about what happened," Trump said.CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF MEDIA AND CULTUREFox News' Joseph Wulfsohn and David Rutz contributed to this report.