The chief executive officer of the New York Times, Meredith Kopit Levien, said the company would "not be cowed" by US 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".

“Today, I have the Great Honor of bringing a $15 Billion Dollar Defamation and Libel Lawsuit against The New York Times, one of the worst and most degenerate newspapers in the History of our Country, becoming a virtual ‘mouthpiece’ for the Radical Left Democrat Party,” Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social.

The lawsuit follows renewed tensions between Trump and the newspaper after it published articles linking him to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. Trump last week threatened legal action over reports involving a sexually suggestive note and drawing given to Epstein.

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.