NY Times hires WSJ white-collar crime reporter O’Brien

New York Times metro editor Jim Dao and assistant metro editor Nestor Ramos sent out the following on Monday:

Late one night in the newsroom of The Record in northern New Jersey seven years ago, an editor found Rebecca Davis O’Brien working away at a local borough council story.

This was not surprising, said the editor, Marty Gottlieb — Rebecca was the kind of reporter who you had to beg not to chase down every story. What was unusual about it was what had happened earlier that day: Rebecca’s work on heroin addiction in North Jersey had been named a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize.

Seven years and one successful stint at The Wall Street Journal later, Rebecca is joining The Times as a reporter covering criminal justice and the courts for the Metro desk. At The Journal, where Rebecca covered white collar law enforcement, she won the Pulitzer that eluded her in New Jersey, as part of a team that uncovered secret payoffs, arranged by Donald Trump and his supporters to silence women who said they had affairs with him. (Our Nicole Hong and Michael Rothfeld were also part of that team.)

During her time at The Journal, Rebecca backed up strong reporting and regular scoops — about Albany and City Hall corruption, the Michael Cohen case and even the U.S.A. Gymnastics sexual abuse scandal — with fluid, graceful and unfussy writing.

For Rebecca, a New York City native, joining The Times is a return engagement of sorts: In the summer of 2001, she was an intern at the magazine, and the following year, she helped with the 9/11 Portraits of Grief project.

After graduating from Harvard, and before launching her journalism career in full, she taught English and coached basketball at King’s Academy in Madaba, Jordan.

Rebecca comes highly recommended by several of her new colleagues — some of whom are eager to begin working alongside her after years of competing against her.

Rebecca starts Aug. 23, when she’ll become a crucial part of our coverage of the Trump investigations, among many other major stories percolating through the city’s courts. We are thrilled to have her. Please give her a warm welcome when she arrives.

Jim and Nestor