Jonathan Swan

Jonathan Swan (born August 7, 1985) is an Australian-American investigative journalist at The New York Times. Raised in Sydney, Swan started out in journalism with Australian papers before immigrating to the United States. In 2016, he joined the newly founded media outlet Axios, covering US President Donald Trump's first administration. Swan broke several major stories and became a rising figure in political journalism, contributing to Axios 's rise to prominence. But some of his reports, such as his 2018 interview with Trump, were called out for lacking insight and critique.

Swan interviewed Trump again in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. He drew media attention and acclaim for fact-checking Trump's falsehoods and constantly challenging his remarks, which, according to journalists, exposed the president as unprepared. His stunned facial expressions made in response to Trump's statements became a viral internet meme. A year later, Axios won the Emmy Award for Best Edited Interview for Swan's work.

Swan, who had been reporting on Trump's second administration, published a critical account of it with Maggie Haberman in 2026, titled Regime Change.

Early life and career Jonathan Swan was born on August 7, 1985, the eldest child of Lee Sutton and health reporter Norman Swan. Raised in Sydney, New South Wales,

At age 25, Swan entered into journalism, covering politics for The Sydney Morning Herald. Around this time, he was a national political reporter for Fairfax Media. Swan became known for his scoops—most notably, his revelations on parliamentarians abusing taxpayer funds and his unearthing a video of a senator hurling kangaroo feces at his brother. After approaching several national media outlets, The Hill hired him. United States career

Beginnings Swan began reporting on politics at The Hill in 2015. and it is at Axios that his career "accelerated", writes journalist Paul Farhi. In one preview clip, Trump revealed that he was planning to end birthright citizenship in the US, Conversely, veteran journalist Bob Woodward argued that he was not soft—he was "tough but fair". and aired on Axioss HBO series on August 3, 2020. as well as nationwide protests over the murder of George Floyd. This time, Swan's approach was more critical. He pointedly challenged and spotlit the president's false and misleading statements throughout. When Trump, for example, described the pandemic as being "under control", Swan responded, "How? A thousand Americans are dying a day." upright=1.25 leftAccording to commentators, Swan managed to challenge Trump by deploying an aggressive line of follow-up questions. The president often could not answer such questions. Daniel Dale of CNN wrote that, in his interviews, Trump would state one false claim after the other in a "hit-and-run" strategy, and interviewers would generally let them pass. However, Swan kept asking "how?", "what?", and "who?", which thwarted Trump's strategy. Journalist David Brody asserted that while Trump often dominated interviews by "commandeering" them, Swan humbled him. The interview was widely praised, For his work, Axios was awarded the 2021 Emmy Award for Best Edited Interview. forming part of his wider plan to overturn the results. A few months later, he documented the president's plan and efforts in a nine-part series titled "Off the Rails".Refn

Later efforts

I see my role in every interview as the representative of the people in that chair. ... What would regular people want to know and want me to do in that situation? And I think that when you're interviewing a president of the United States, you want to find the balance between letting them explain themselves and not cutting in every two seconds, but finding moments that are really important to puncture the bubble. — Swan on interviewing the US president, from a July 2026 interview He now covers Trump's second administration and has reported on his 2024 campaign and 2026 war against Iran.

He published Regime Change with fellow New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman in June 2026. Sourced from their reporting and over a thousand interviews with people close to Trump and his government, it studies the first year of Trump's second administration and presents it as one of insatiable, erratic exercise of power, venality, disinterest in morality, and tireless fealty to the president and his personal wishes; actions such as the toppling of Nicolás Maduro and Trump's lavish White House renovations, as Swan understands them, manifest his urge to become a great man of history. He became an American citizen in 2024.