New York magazine says its star political reporter is on leave after a relationship was disclosed

[September 21, 2024]  By DAVID BAUDER

New York magazine says that its highly regarded Washington correspondent, Olivia Nuzzi, is on leave after disclosing that she violated the publication's standards by having a personal relationship with a former reporting subject.

The newsletter Status, which broke the story, and The New York Times both cite unnamed sources in identifying Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the other person involved with Nuzzi. She has not confirmed Kennedy’s involvement, and Kennedy said in a statement that he had only met her once.

David Haskell, New York magazine editor in chief, said in a note to staff members on Friday that Nuzzi told them the relationship began last December, “after we had published her November profile.” Her only published profile that month was of Kennedy. The relationship reportedly ended in August, he wrote.

It’s an explosive development for the magazine and Nuzzi, whose piece featuring an interview with Donald Trump, “Peering into Donald Trump’s Ear, and Soul,” was featured on its most recent cover. Haskell said online versions of the Trump story and one Nuzzi wrote about Biden this summer will direct readers to a note explaining the situation.

Posted late Thursday, New York said in the note that if it had been aware of the relationship, Nuzzi would not have been permitted to cover the presidential campaign.

New York said an internal review of her work has found no inaccuracies or evidence of bias, but that Nuzzi is on leave while a more thorough third-party review is undertaken.

“We regret this violation of our readers’ trust,” the magazine said, and a spokeswoman had no further comment. A spokesperson for Kennedy, who is married to the actress Cheryl Hines, did not immediately return a message from The Associated Press.

Nuzzi said in a statement to Status that in early 2024, the nature of some communication between herself and a former reporting subject turned personal.

New York magazine’s Washington correspondent Olivia Nuzzi poses for photographers as she arrives at the annual White House Correspondents' Association Dinner in Washington, Saturday, April 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)

“During that time, I did not directly report on the subject nor use them as a source,” she said. “The relationship was never physical but should have been disclosed to prevent the appearance of a conflict. I deeply regret not doing so immediately and apologize to those I’ve disappointed, especially my colleagues at New York.”

Haskell said that New York editors “learned about the personal nature of Olivia's relationship a few days ago.” He said he was told the relationship ended in August.

In her story about Kennedy’s campaign that was published last November, “The Mind-Bending Politics of RFK Jr.’s Spoiler Campaign,” Nuzzi described a harrowing car ride and brief hike with Kennedy and his dogs while interviewing him.

His name came up in a March 2024 piece in The New York Times where Nuzzi, Frank Bruni and Joe Klein discussed the state of the campaign at the time. “We’re forgetting or purposefully ignoring something rather important about this election: It’s not a two-man race. It’s a three-man race,” Nuzzi said, noting that at the time Kennedy was “polling competitively.”

Status quoted a representative for Kennedy saying, “Mr. Kennedy only met Olivia Nuzzi once in her life for an interview she requested, which yielded a hit piece.”

In Politico's Playbook newsletter Friday afternoon, that publication's Ryan Lizza — who is Nuzzi's ex-fiance — wrote that “because of my connection to this story ... my editors and I have agreed that I won't be involved in any coverage of Kennedy in Playbook or elsewhere at Politico.”

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