Sep 18, 2025 - Business

Exclusive: Trump "wrong on the facts" in $15 billion defamation suit, NYT editor says

Christine Wang

New York Times executive editor Joseph Kahn speaks at Media Trends Live. Photo: Vita Phoenix/Edin Studios on behalf of Axios

The New York Times is confident it can defeat President Trump's $15 billion defamation lawsuit, the paper's executive editor Joseph Kahn said Thursday at an Axios Media Trends Live event.

Why it matters: The paper is aggressively defending itself at a time critics accuse some other media organizations of not standing up to the administration.

What they're saying: "Well he's wrong on the facts. He's wrong on the law and we'll fight it, and we'll win," he told Axios' Sara Fischer.

"I don't think the president of the United States should be suing media organizations for libel, full stop. I think that's wrong," Kahn said.
"But I especially think it's wrong when he's wrong on the facts, when he's wrong about the story, when he misunderstands the protections that the law offers to media organizations under the Supreme Court's interpretation of libel law, and I think it's incumbent on us to fight that to the end."

Catch up quick: On Monday, Trump sued the Times, claiming the paper is a "full-throated mouthpiece of the Democrat Party."

Go deeper: Free speech fight shifts

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Exclusive: Trump "wrong on the facts" in $15 billion defamation suit, NYT editor says

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