Jonathan Dienst is NBC New York’s Chief Investigative Reporter and Chief Justice Contributor for NBC News. Dienst’s reporting is featured on WNBC newscasts and digital properties. Dienst also regularly appears on NBC national programs including NBC Nightly News, MSNBC, NBC News Now, and The Today Show. He also appears on Dateline and CNBC, and he regularly contributes to NBCNews.com.
Dienst helps lead WNBC and NBC News coverage of major breaking news ranging from terrorism to public corruption, white collar crime to mass shootings. His reporting has included: coverage of former President Trump’s alleged abuses; alleged wrongdoing by Sen. Robert Menendez, Sen. Robert Torricelli, former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former NYPD Commissioner Bernie Kerik, former NY Governors Cuomo, Spitzer, Paterson, NY Senate leader Joe Bruno, NY Assembly Speaker Silver, former Westchester DA Jeanine Pirro, among other federal, state and local officials. He also played an important role in WNBC’s coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic, the large-scale protests following the murder of George Floyd and the impact of those protests across the region.
Dienst joined NBC shortly after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. For more than 20 years, he has helped spearhead the network’s coverage of significant terror-related incidents at home and abroad. Dienst also covers the NYPD and major crime stories from coast to coast – from school shootings in Newtown and Uvalde, to significant organized crime cases and to corruption on Wall Street.
Prior to joining NBC, Dienst worked as a reporter for WPIX-TV in New York from 1996-2001 and was one the original reporters who helped launch NY 1 News in 1992. He covered the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993, the mass shooting on the LIRR later that same year, and the 1996 crash of TWA Flight 800. His first on-air position was with WSAV in Savannah, GA where he helped cover that city’s skyrocketing crime rate and local police corruption. Dienst also had experience working behind the scenes at Fox 5 New York, and has written articles for the NY Times, Newsday and the NY Post. Dienst’s exclusive reporting has received recognition and awards including: Associated Press, Emmy, Murrow, Columbia-DuPont, NY Press Club, Investigative Reporters and Editors, among others.
Dienst is a graduate of Colgate University and received his MS in Journalism from Columbia University.
The Latest
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Bob Menendez and wife charged with obstruction, accused of trying to cover up bribes
New Jersey. Sen. Bob Menendez and his wife Nadine were hit with more criminal charges in an alleged corruption case involving gold bars, a luxury car and other alleged bribes, according to federal prosecutors.
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Sen. Bob Menendez co-defendant pleads guilty to conspiracy, will cooperate with prosecutors
A co-defendant in the corruption investigation into New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez who was accused of giving the senator’s wife a luxury convertible has agreed to plead guilty and will cooperate with prosecutors, NBC New York has learned.
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Migrant released in Times Square police attack arrested in Queens robbery: NYPD
One of the migrants allegedly involved in the attack on two NYPD officers in Times Square and released without bail is now being sought by the NYPD for questioning in connection with a robbery Tuesday evening at a Macy’s in Queens.
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Nadine Menendez claimed she inherited gold bars after mother's death, prosecutors say
Federal prosecutors allege Sen. Bob Menendez and his wife told at least two people that she inherited gold bars from her mother — the same gold bars the FBI has alleged were part of payments to the senator and his wife as part of a wide-ranging bribery scheme.
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1 dead, 5 hurt in shooting at Bronx subway station after fight breaks out on train: NYPD
Six teens were shot at a Bronx subway station after a fight broke out on a train and spilled out onto the platform, according to law enforcement sources.
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Sen. Bob Menendez says gold bars and cash at his home were illegally found and seized
New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez wants a New York judge to toss out much of the evidence in the bribery prosecution against him, saying investigators illegally searched his residence as revenge because the Democrat defeated a prior prosecution in his home state.
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Officers shoot and kill man barricaded in LES apartment who fired at officers: Sources
Police shot and killed a man who fired at them during a standoff at a Manhattan apartment after he barricaded himself inside, according to law enforcement sources.
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US Marshal in custody after accused of sexually abusing woman during flight to London
A deputy U.S. Marshal traveling to London to help extradite a criminal defendant has been taken into custody by British authorities after he was accused of sexually abusing a female passenger on board a Delta flight, four law enforcement officials said.
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Gold bars featured in Bob Menendez bribery case linked to 2013 robbery, records show
At least four gold bars found in the FBI search of Sen. Robert Menendez’s home had been directly linked to a New Jersey businessman now accused of bribing the state’s senior senator, records show
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Two dead after vehicle crash and explosion at Niagara Falls Rainbow Bridge border crossing
The FBI’s Buffalo field office is investigating an explosion at the Niagara Falls border crossing between the U.S. and Canada.
