JAKE OFFENHARTZ

New York City reporter

Offenhartz is a general assignment reporter in the New York City bureau of The Associated Press.
Former president Donald Trump waits for the start of proceedings in Manhattan criminal court, Tuesday, April 23, 2024, in New York. Before testimony resumes Tuesday, the judge will hold a hearing on prosecutors' request to sanction and fine Trump over social media posts they say violate a gag order prohibiting him from attacking key witnesses. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, Pool)
Tabloid publisher says he pledged to be Trump campaign’s ‘eyes and ears’ during 2016 race
A veteran tabloid publisher has testified that he pledged to be Donald Trump’s “eyes and ears” during his 2016 presidential campaign, recounting for a jury how he promised the then-candidate that he would help suppress harmful stories and had even arranged to purchase a doorman’s silence.
 
Former President Donald Trump, followed by his attorney Todd Blanche, left, exits the courtroom following proceedings in his trial, Friday, April 19, 2024, at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York. (Mark Peterson/Pool Photo via AP)
Trump tried to ‘corrupt’ the 2016 election, prosecutor alleges as hush money trial gets underway
A prosecutor told jurors that Donald Trump tried to illegally influence the 2016 presidential election by preventing damaging stories about his personal life from becoming public.
 
Former President Donald Trump appears at Manhattan criminal in New York, Friday, April 19, 2024. (Curtis Means/Pool Photo via AP)
Final jurors seated for Trump’s hush money case, with opening statements set for Monday
The final jurors have been seated in Donald Trump’s hush money trial, and an appellate judge has rejected the former president’s latest bid to halt the case.
 
FILE - Former President Donald Trump, center, appears in court for his arraignment, Tuesday, April 4, 2023, in New York. A dozen Manhattan residents are soon to become the first Americans ever to sit in judgment of a former president charged with a crime. Jury selection is set to start Monday in former President Donald Trump's hush-money trial. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, Pool)
Social media searches play central role at jury selection for Trump’s first criminal trial
The jury selection process at the historic criminal trial of former President Donald Trump can already credit modern technology for shaping the eventual panel.
 
Former President Donald Trump holds up news clippings as he speaks following his trial at Manhattan criminal court in New York on Thursday, April 18, 2024. (Timothy A. Clary/Pool Photo via AP)
12 jurors have been picked for Donald Trump’s hush money trial. Selection of alternates is ongoing
A jury of 12 people has been seated in former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial in New York. Alternates are now being selected.
 
FILE - Stormy Daniels appears at an event, May 23, 2018, in West Hollywood, Calif. The hush money trial of former President Donald Trump begins Monday, April 15, 2024, with jury selection. It's the first criminal trial of a former U.S. commander-in-chief. The charges in the trial center on $130,000 in payments that Trump's company made to his then-lawyer, Michael Cohen. He paid that sum on Trump's behalf to keep Daniels from going public, a month before the election, with her claims of a sexual encounter with Trump a decade earlier. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu, File)
Trump lawyers say Stormy Daniels refused subpoena outside a Brooklyn bar, papers left ‘at her feet’
Donald Trump’s legal team says it tried serving a subpoena on Stormy Daniels as she arrived for a screening of her documentary at a gay bar in Brooklyn last month, but the porn actor and hush money trial figure refused to take it and walked away.
 
Former President Donald Trump awaits the start of proceedings on the second day of jury selection at Manhattan criminal court, Tuesday, April 16, 2024, in New York. Trump returned to the courtroom Tuesday as a judge works to find a panel of jurors who will decide whether the former president is guilty of criminal charges alleging he falsified business records to cover up a sex scandal during the 2016 campaign. (Michael M. Santiago/Pool Photo via AP)
First 7 jurors are chosen for Trump’s hush money criminal trial, with 11 more still needed
The first seven jurors for Donald Trump’s New York hush money trial have been chosen after lawyers grilled members of the jury pool about their social media posts, political views and personal lives.
 
Former U.S. President Donald Trump sits inside a Manhattan criminal court in New York, on Monday, April 15, 2024. The hush money trial of former President Trump begins Monday with jury selection. It's a singular moment for American history as the first criminal trial of a former U.S. commander in chief. (Jeenah Moon/Pool Photo via AP)
Trump’s historic hush money trial gets underway; 1st day ends without any jurors being picked
The historic hush money trial of Donald Trump got underway Monday with the arduous process of selecting a jury to hear the case charging the former president with falsifying business records in order to stifle stories about his sex life.
 
FILE - This undated family photo, provided by Ellen Trawick, shows her and her son Kawaski Trawick. Two New York City police officers involved in the fatal shooting of Kawaski Trawick inside his Bronx apartment five years earlier will not face internal discipline, the city’s police commissioner, Edward Caban, announced Friday, April 12, 2024. (Courtesy of Ellen Trawick via AP, File)
Officer who fatally shot Kawaski Trawick 5 years ago won’t be disciplined, police commissioner says
Two New York City police officers involved in the fatal shooting of Kawaski Trawick inside his Bronx apartment five years ago will not face internal discipline.
 
FILE - This March 8, 2019 photo shows the "Vessel," a 150-foot-tall structure of climbable interlocking staircases in the Hudson Yards development in New York. The Vessel, a climbable sculpture that drew hordes of tourists to the Hudson Yards mega-development on Manhattan’s west side before a string of suicides forced its closure in 2021, will reopen to the public later this year with added safety measures. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
The Vessel, a Manhattan tourist site closed after suicides, will reopen later this year
The centerpiece sculpture at the Hudson Yards development on Manhattan’s west side will reopen to the public later this year after a string of suicides forced its closure in 2021.
 
FILE - The fireboat John J. Harvey passes the Statue of Liberty, Oct. 28, 2011, in New York Harbor. A man was arrested Thursday, April 11, 2024, for allegedly taking the decommissioned New York City fire boat for an overnight cruise on the Hudson River, before becoming stuck and jumping ship. He then boarded a second stolen vessel, police said, which he sailed roughly one nautical mile (1.8 kilometers) south until he was taken into custody on its deck. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)
Man arrested for allegedly taking a decommissioned NYC fireboat for an overnight cruise
Police say a man has been arrested for allegedly taking a decommissioned New York City fireboat for an overnight cruise on the Hudson River.
 
FILE - Former President Donald Trump arrives for a press conference at 40 Wall Street after a pre-trial hearing at Manhattan criminal court, March 25, 2024, in New York. Days after a New York judge expanded a gag order on Trump meant to curtail “inflammatory” speech ahead of his upcoming criminal hush money trial, the former president tested its limits by disparaging two key witnesses in the case as liars. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, file)
Trump tests limits of gag order with post insulting 2 likely witnesses in criminal trial
Days after a New York judge expanded a gag order on Donald Trump meant to curtail “inflammatory” speech ahead of his upcoming criminal hush money trial, the former president tested its limits by disparaging two key witnesses in the case as liars.
 
FILE - Hasidic Jewish students observe as law enforcement establishes a perimeter around a breached wall in the synagogue that led to a tunnel dug by students, Jan. 8, 2024, in New York. Thirteen members of the Hasidic Jewish community pleaded not guilty Wednesday, April 10, to charges stemming from their alleged role in a dispute over an illegal tunnel built beneath a historic Brooklyn synagogue. (Bruce Schaff via AP, File)
13 men plead not guilty to role in Brooklyn synagogue tunnel scuffle
Thirteen members of the Hasidic Jewish community have pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from their alleged role in a dispute over an illegal tunnel built beneath a historic Brooklyn synagogue.
 
FILE - Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg speaks during a news conference, Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023, in New York. As he prepares to bring the first of Donald Trump's four criminal prosecutions to trial, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg finds himself at the center of a political firestorm. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg says Trump’s hush money criminal trial isn’t about politics
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg finds himself at the center of a political firestorm as he prepares to bring the first of Donald Trump’s four criminal prosecutions to trial.
 
FILE - Former President Donald Trump sits at the defense table with his legal team in a Manhattan court, Tuesday, April 4, 2023, in New York. The first-ever trial of a former U.S. president will feature allegations that Trump falsified business records while compensating one of his lawyers, Michael Cohen, for burying stories about extramarital affairs that arose during the 2016 presidential race.(AP Photo/Seth Wenig, Pool)
New York appeals court rejects Donald Trump’s third request to delay Monday’s hush money trial
For the third straight day, a New York appeals court has rejected an attempt by Donald Trump’s lawyers to delay the former president’s hush money criminal trial.
 
FILE - Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks, April 2, 2024, at a rally in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Mike Roemer, File)
New York appeals judge rejects Donald Trump’s request to delay his April 15 hush money trial
A New York appeals court judge has rejected former President Donald Trump’s request to delay his April 15 hush money criminal trial while he fights to move the case out of Manhattan.
 
FILE - Rudy Giuliani speaks to reporters after Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump spoke at a primary election night party in Nashua, N.H., Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024. Giuliani will be allowed to remain in his Florida condo for now after a New York bankruptcy judge declined Thursday, April 4, 2024, to rule on a motion filed by his creditors that would’ve forced him to sell the Palm Beach estate. Giuliani declared bankruptcy in December after he was ordered to pay $148 million to two former Georgia election workers for spreading lies about their role in the 2020 election. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
Rudy Giuliani can remain in Florida condo, despite judge’s concern with his spending habits
Rudy Giuliani will be allowed to remain in his Florida condo for now. A New York bankruptcy judge on Thursday declined to rule on a motion filed by his creditors that would’ve forced him to sell the Palm Beach estate.
 
FILE - New York City Mayor Eric Adams speaks during a news conference at City Hall, Dec. 12, 2023, in New York. An artificial intelligence-powered chatbot meant to help small business owners in New York City has come under fire for dispensing bizarre advice that misstates local policies and advises companies to violate the law. But the chatbot remains online, even as Adams acknowledged Tuesday, April 2, 2024, that its answers were “wrong in some areas.” (AP Photo/Peter K. Afriyie, File)
NYC’s AI chatbot was caught telling businesses to break the law. The city isn’t taking it down
An artificial intelligence-powered chatbot meant to help small business owners in New York City has come under fire for dispensing bizarre advice that misstates local policies and advises companies to violate the law.
 
Salvage work continues on the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge, Tuesday, April 2, 2024, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
Workers had little warning as Maryland bridge collapsed, raising concerns over safety and communication
In the moments before the cargo ship Dali rammed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge and sent it crumbling into the water, a flurry of urgent warnings crackled over radios and enabled police to block traffic from getting on the span, likely saving lives.
 
FILE - A Eurasian eagle-owl named Flaco sits in a tree in New York's Central Park, Feb. 6, 2023. Flaco, New York City’s widely-mourned celebrity owl, was suffering from a severe pigeon-borne illness and high levels of rat poison when he fatally crashed into a building last month, officials at the Bronx Zoo said on Monday, March 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
New York City owl Flaco was exposed to pigeon virus and rat poison before death, tests show
New York City’s celebrity owl Flaco was suffering from a pigeon-borne illness and high levels of rat poison when he crashed into a building and died last month.
 
Former President Donald Trump awaits the start of a pre-trial hearing with his defense team at Manhattan criminal, Monday, March 25, 2024, in New York. A judge will weigh on Monday when the former president will go on trial. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, Pool)
Trump’s New York hush money case is set for trial April 15
A New York judge has scheduled former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial to begin April 15. Judge Juan M. Merchan made the ruling Monday.
 
New York City Mayor Eric Adams gestures as he attends a news conference at City Hall in New York, Tuesday, March 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)
New York Mayor Adams says 1993 sexual assault allegation detailed in new lawsuit ‘did not happen’
New York City Mayor Eric Adams is denying allegations outlined in a new lawsuit that he sexually assaulted a former police colleague in 1993.
 
Chinese billionaire pleads guilty to straw donor scheme in New York and Rhode Island
A Chinese billionaire has pleaded guilty to federal election crimes, admitting that he made thousands of dollars in contributions to New York and Rhode Island political candidates in the names of others.
 
Lawsuit accuses NYC Mayor Eric Adams of sexually assaulting a woman in a vacant lot in 1993
New York City Mayor Eric Adams has been accused in a new lawsuit of sexually assaulting a police colleague seeking his career help in 1993.
 
FILE - Bandleader Benny Goodman, left, and U.S. pianist Byron Janis talk during a pause in rehearsal for their joint concert in Leningrad, Russia, June 22, 1962. Both were on separate tours of the Soviet Union. Janis, a renowned American concert pianist and composer who broke barriers as a Cold War era culture ambassador and later overcame severe arthritis that nearly robbed him of his playing abilities, died at age 95. Janis passed away Thursday evening, March 14, 2024, at a hospital in New York City, according to his wife, Maria Cooper Janis. (AP Photo/George Syvertsen, File)
Byron Janis, renowned American classical pianist who overcame debilitating arthritis, dies at 95
Acclaimed American classical pianist Byron Janis has died at the age of 95. His wife, Maria Cooper Janis, said her husband died Thursday evening in New York City.
 
FILE - Former President Donald Trump leaves Manhattan criminal court, Feb. 15, 2024, in New York. Prosecutors said Thursday, March 14, that they’re open to delaying the start of Trump’s New York hush-money criminal trial to give the former president’s lawyers time to review evidence that was only recently turned over. Jury selection in the trial is scheduled to begin March 25. The judge has yet to rule on the request. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)
Prosecutors say they’re open to delaying Donald Trump’s March 25 hush-money trial for a month
Prosecutors say they’re open to delaying the start of Donald Trump’s New York hush-money criminal trial to give the former president’s lawyers time to review evidence that was only recently turned over.
 
FILE - This photo provided by the Office of New York City Police Department Assistant Commissioner Kaz Daughtry, Monday, Feb. 5, 2024, shows New York Mayor Eric Adams, left center, who joined investigators and specialized teams as they carried out a search warrant. (Office of New York City Police Department Assistant Commissioner Kaz Daughtry via AP, File)
The NYPD is using social media to target critics. That brings its own set of worries
The New York Police Department has been taking a more active role in trying to influence public policy through slick online videos and social media posts.
 
NYC public servants accused of stealing identities of homeless in pandemic fraud scheme
Several New York City employees have been arrested for their alleged role in a scheme to steal the identities of homeless shelter residents and defraud a pandemic-era relief program.
 
FILE - Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., faces reporters at the Capitol, Nov. 30, 2023, in Washington. A Texas man was arrested Wednesday, March 6, 2024, on accusations he schemed to dupe George Santos into wiring him money with the false promise that he could get the criminal corruption charges against the disgraced congressman dropped. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
Texas man arrested in alleged scam attempt against disgraced former congressman George Santos
A Texas man has been arrested on accusations he schemed to dupe disgraced former congressman George Santos into wiring him money with the false promise he could get criminal corruption charges against him dropped.
 
Allen Weisselberg appears in Manhattan criminal court in New York on Monday, March 4, 2024. Weisselberg, the former chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, surrendered to the Manhattan district attorney Monday morning for arraignment on new criminal charges, the prosecutor's office said. (Curtis Means/Daily Mail via AP, Pool)
Former Trump CFO Allen Weisselberg pleads guilty to perjury in deal that doesn’t require cooperation
The former chief financial officer of Donald Trump’s company has pleaded guilty in New York to lying under oath during his testimony in the ex-president’s civil fraud case.
 
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