New York Magazine has placed Washington correspondent Olivia Nuzzi on leave after she disclosed she had “engaged in a personal relationship” with someone relevant to the 2024 presidential campaign.
That person, according to multiple reports, was Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the controversial Democrat-turned-Independent presidential candidate who pulled the plug on his campaign nearly a month ago and endorsed former President Donald Trump.
“Had the magazine been aware of this relationship, she would not have continued to cover the presidential campaign,” a company spokesperson said in a statement, noting their relationship unfolded while Nuzzi was reporting on the campaign.
On Nov. 22, 2023, the magazine published a piece by Nuzzi titled “The Mind-Bending Politics of RFK Jr.’s Spoiler Campaign.” A spokesperson for the former candidate slammed the article as a “hit piece,” according to Status reporter Oliver Darcy, who was the first to report on the alleged relationship.
While an internal review of the piece “found no inaccuracies nor evidence of bias,” engaging in a personal relationship with a “former subject” relevant to the campaign during the reporting process represents “a violation of the magazine’s standards around conflicts of interest and disclosures,” the spokesperson said.
Nuzzi, 31, is one of the publication’s most high-profile writers. The New York City native began her career in journalism as a teenager in 2011, writing for the triCitynews, a free alt-weekly newspaper distributed in eastern Monmouth County, N.J. She has also written for the Daily Beast, Politico and The Washington Post.
In July 2013, while still attending college, she wrote a piece for the Daily News describing her experiences while volunteering for Anthony Weiner’s New York City sexting-plagued mayoral campaign.
The story, which made the paper’s front page, was slammed by Weiner’s then-communications director Barbara Morgan, who trashed the former intern in a profanity-laden rant.
Nuzzi announced her engagement to Politico chief Washington correspondent Ryan Lizza in 2022, but a Politico article about the alleged affair indicates the pair are no longer engaged.
Kennedy, 70, has been married to “Curb Your Enthusiasm” actress Cheryl Hines since 2014.
Nuzzi is currently on leave while the magazine conducts “a more thorough third-party review,” the spokesperson said. “We regret this violation of our readers’ trust.”