New York Times tells Trump no retraction after he demands Haberman pull 9/11 report

BS BULLETIN:

President Trump demanded that New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman retract reporting that his decision to attend the Pentagon’s 25th anniversary 9/11 ceremony instead of Ground Zero was partly connected to his desire to speak.
Trump denied ever asking to speak in New York and launched a blistering personal attack on Haberman, demanding she reveal her sources.
The Times isn’t budging: “We won’t be issuing a retraction,” the newspaper said, maintaining that its reporting came from multiple people familiar with the planning.

President Donald Trump demanded a retraction. The New York Times’ answer: No.

The newspaper is standing behind Maggie Haberman and its reporting about Trump’s plans for the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks after the president accused Haberman of making up the story and challenged her to reveal her sources.

The dispute centers on Trump’s decision to attend the Pentagon commemoration while Vice President JD Vance represents the administration at the ceremony in New York. The Times previously reported that Trump’s decision was connected, in part, to his interest in speaking at the New York ceremony. Trump says that simply isn’t true.

In a lengthy Truth Social post Tuesday, Trump noted that politicians traditionally do not deliver speeches at the Ground Zero remembrance ceremony and said he never asked to do so.

“I speak enough,” Trump wrote, adding that there had instead been a “strong request” for him to attend the Pentagon ceremony while Vance represented the administration in New York.

Then Trump went after Haberman personally. He called her reporting fabricated, said she knows little about him, accused her of failing to fact-check the story, and challenged her to reveal the sources behind it.

“Let her reveal her sources, because they don’t exist,” Trump wrote before demanding a retraction.

The Times responded Wednesday — and didn’t leave much room for interpretation.

“We won’t be issuing a retraction,” the newspaper said.

Readers can follow our coverage of the president’s 9/11 plans, and the evolving — and often disputed — account of his actions on Sept. 11 here: https://t.co/bt1BWQDtJh https://t.co/JUZHpysgiv pic.twitter.com/X7wpzdYtz6

— NYTimes Communications (@NYTimesPR) September 9, 2026

The Times said its reporting was based on multiple people familiar with discussions and planning surrounding the New York ceremony. It also said its reporters sought comment from the White House before publication and received a statement that did not contradict what they had learned.

Haberman has separately defended the reporting, saying multiple reporters worked on the story and multiple sources supported it. She said the White House did not initially push back when contacted before publication and that Trump’s denial came roughly a day later.

The fight has become tangled with a separate dispute over Trump’s presence at Ground Zero following the 2001 attacks.

Trump has repeatedly maintained that he went to lower Manhattan shortly after the towers fell and that construction workers associated with him participated in the response. This week, he posted archival footage from Sept. 13, 2001, showing him in lower Manhattan discussing workers he said were helping at the site.

DBS WIRE SOURCES: