Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on September 18, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleNYT CEO Meredith Kopit Levien defies Trump's $15-billion lawsuit, calling it baseless and an attempt to stifle journalism.
(Reuters) -The chief executive officer of the New York Times, Meredith Kopit Levien, said the company would "not be cowed" by U.S. President Donald Trump’s $15-billion lawsuit against the newspaper, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.
The suit is the latest in Trump's flurry of legal attacks on media during his second term, including a $10-billion defamation case against the Wall Street Journal in July.
The lawsuit was legally baseless, Levien told a Financial Times conference in remarks the paper called her first public utterance on the matter.
"The lawsuit has no merit. It lacks any legitimate legal claims. I believe its purpose is to stifle independent journalism, to deter the kind of fact-based reporting that the Times and other institutions are known for."
She added, "There is an anti-press playbook at this point . . . The New York Times will not be cowed by this."
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In Monday's suit, Trump accused the paper of maliciously publishing articles and a book filled with "repugnant distortions and fabrications about President Trump".
In response to a Reuters request for comment on the filing, the paper said on Tuesday the lawsuit had no legitimate legal claims and was a bid to stifle and discourage independent reporting.
(Reporting by Preetika Parashuraman in Bengaluru; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
Levien stated that the lawsuit is legally baseless and lacks any legitimate claims, aiming to stifle independent journalism.
The New York Times declared that the lawsuit had no legitimate legal claims and was an attempt to deter fact-based reporting.
The lawsuit is part of a series of legal attacks Trump has launched against various media outlets during his second term.
Levien referred to a strategy being employed to intimidate and undermine the press, asserting that the New York Times would not be intimidated.
In addition to the lawsuit against the New York Times, Trump has also filed a $10-billion defamation case against the Wall Street Journal.
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