Jay Root

@byjayroot

Investigative reporter in Albany for The New York Times. Native Texan. Moitié français. Email: Jay.Root AT http://nytimes.com; 518-779-6529. DMs open.

Albany, NY

Joined April 2009

2KFollowing

17KFollowers

Pinned

Jay Root@byjayroot · Dec 9

For years a #Brooklyn powerbroker named John Chan has played an outsized role in New York politics. His ties to the Chinese Communist Party were not a secret. His criminal past was. Today we revealed it (w/@PekingMike, @biancapallaro & @BenWeiserNYT) nytimes.com/2024/12/09/nyr…

byjayroot's tweet card. John Chan was a Chinatown gangster before remaking himself into a powerful force in New York politics — one closely aligned with the Chinese Communist Party.

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Jay Root@byjayroot · 4 h

NEW TONIGHT: Possible ballot stuffing. Absentee fraud. Dead voters. This is the alleged activity officials say prosecutors should investigate in southern Brooklyn nytimes.com/2025/07/25/nyr…

byjayroot's tweet card. The New York City Board of Elections asked prosecutors to investigate potential ballot stuffing in a City Council race in southern Brooklyn.

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Jay Root@byjayroot · Jul 14

Spotted at @NYCMayor Eric Adams's rally yesterday in Flushing: Winnie Greco, who resigned from his admin last year amid a probe of possible Chinese influence in the 2021 mayor's race, & Dao Yin, charged with fraud over allegedly fake donations to his 2024 Assembly campaign

byjayroot's tweet image. Spotted at @NYCMayor Eric Adams's rally yesterday in Flushing: Winnie Greco, who resigned from his admin last year amid a probe of possible Chinese influence in the 2021 mayor's race, &amp; Dao Yin, charged with fraud over allegedly fake donations to his 2024 Assembly campaign

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Ben Oreskes@boreskes · Jul 2

NEW: Avi Small, the press secretary to Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York, has been placed on leave and is being investigated after another aide accused him of inappropriate touching. nytimes.com/2025/07/02/nyr…

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Jay Root@byjayroot · Jun 30

MUST READ NYT story revealing US law enforcement compiled reams of evidence of a "corrupt pact" between the government of El Salvador and gang leaders --> Trump Vowed to Dismantle MS-13. His Deal With Bukele Threatens That Effort. nytimes.com/2025/06/30/us/…

byjayroot's tweet card. Top gang leaders being sent back to El Salvador were part of a lengthy federal investigation that has amassed evidence of a corrupt pact between the Bukele government and MS-13.

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Mike Forsythe 傅才德@PekingMike · Jun 14

Former Cuomo Campaign Adviser Led Chinese State Oil Company - by @byjayroot @biancapallaro and me. He just resigned. nytimes.com/2025/06/13/nyr…

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Jay Root@byjayroot · Jun 13

Following our @nytimes investigation, 2024 #NYS Assembly candidate Dao Yin is charged with fraud after allegedly using fake donors and forged signatures to get taxpayer money (matching funds) for his campaign nytimes.com/2025/06/13/nyr… w/@SantulN @biancapallaro & @WRashbaum

byjayroot's tweet card. Dao Yin was charged after a New York Times investigation revealed that he reported receiving campaign contributions from people who said they had not made them.

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Jay Root@byjayroot · Jun 7

Buyer With Ties to Chinese Communist Party Got V.I.P. Treatment at Trump Crypto Dinner nytimes.com/2025/06/06/us/… via all star cast @EricLiptonNYT @yaffebellany @PekingMike @devonjlum & Jiawei Wang

byjayroot's tweet card. The warm welcome for a technology executive whose purchases of the president’s digital coin won him a White House tour illustrates inconsistencies in the administration’s views toward visitors from...

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Jay Root Retweeted

Emma G. Fitzsimmons@emmagf · May 29

He Took a Wrong Turn Into Canada. The Price? 3 Weeks in ICE Custody by @byjayroot: nytimes.com/2025/05/29/nyr…

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Jay Root@byjayroot · May 20

NY Gov. @KathyHochul apologizes for “sanctioned ethnic cleansing” at state-run boarding school in Western NY nytimes.com/2025/05/20/nyr…

byjayroot's tweet card. Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York visited Seneca land on Tuesday to apologize for the state’s operation of a boarding school that “sanctioned ethnic cleansing” of Native American children.

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Jay Root@byjayroot · May 16

This is a MUST READ —> The Story of Sexual Abuse, Bribery and Suicide That Shocked a Small Town nytimes.com/2025/05/15/nyr… via @Chris_Maag

byjayroot's tweet card. An F.B.I. investigation homed in on two powerful men in suburban New York. Behind it were allegations by a woman who said her brother had abused and controlled her for 45 years.

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Jay Root@byjayroot · Apr 8

Wish I had come up with this lede on my own: “A Brooklyn judge took the crime out of a bite on Tuesday, dismissing a felony case against a New York City councilwoman who” bit a cop nytimes.com/2025/04/08/nyr… via moi & @HurubieMeko

byjayroot's tweet card. Susan Zhuang attacked a deputy chief of the Police Department during a protest last summer over a homeless shelter in Brooklyn.

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Jay Root@byjayroot · Mar 24

This is kinda brilliant

AAlex Gault@AlexBGault · Mar 24

@JimmyVielkind asks Governor Hochul about her proposed mask ban. “Do I intend to harass you?” “How would you know that, and would a law enforcement officer know that?”

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Mike Forsythe 傅才德@PekingMike · Mar 18

JUST POSTED: Two of NYC Eric Adams's top fund-raisers are under federal investigation for ties to the Chinese government. Scoop by @biancapallaro @byjayroot @WRashbaum and me.

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Jay Root@byjayroot · Mar 3

N.Y. State Police Investigate Death of Another Inmate at Upstate Prison nytimes.com/2025/03/02/nyr… via @Jan_Ransom

byjayroot's tweet card. Eleven corrections workers were placed on leave after a 22-year-old inmate at Mid-State Correctional Facility died. Inmates said he was viciously beaten by prison guards.

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Jay Root@byjayroot · Feb 14

The world’s richest man “harnessed anti-immigrant sentiment to vault himself to political power alongside” #Trump, but as it turns out, undocumented immigrants helped build his growing Texas biz empire, reports Bloomberg Businessweek bloom.bg/41gG6a3 via @byJuliaLove

byjayroot's tweet card. Tesla and SpaceX both relied on their labor while Musk advocated for a border crackdown.

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