Olivia Nuzzi, New York Magazine part ways over RFK Jr. relationship : NPR

New York Magazine has parted ways with its star writer, Olivia Nuzzi, a month after she was placed on leave over her previously undisclosed relationship with then-presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

The magazine announced last month that Nuzzi, 31, had violated its standards around conflicts of interest and disclosures by engaging in a relationship with a “former subject relevant to the 2024 campaign” while reporting on the election — which she would not have been permitted to cover if leadership had known.

Multiple news outlets identified that source as Kennedy, 70, who dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed former President Donald Trump in August. A spokesperson for Kennedy — who is married to actress Cheryl Hines — said last month that he “only met Olivia Nuzzi once in his life for an interview she requested, which yielded a hit piece.”

Nuzzi, who had served as the magazine’s Washington correspondent since 2017, wrote about many of the candidates running in this year’s presidential election: She profiled Kennedy in November 2023, wrote about Democrats’ “conspiracy of silence to protect” then-candidate President Biden in July and interviewed former President Donald Trump for the magazine’s September cover story.

New York Magazine initially said an internal review had found “no inaccuracies nor evidence of bias” in Nuzzi’s work. It announced this week that an outside investigation by the law firm Davis Wright Tremaine had reached the same conclusion.

“Nevertheless, the magazine and Nuzzi agreed that the best course forward is to part ways,” it added. “Nuzzi is a uniquely talented writer and we have been proud to publish her work over her nearly eight years as our Washington Correspondent. We wish her the best.”

Nuzzi acknowledged last month that “the nature of some communication between myself and a former reporting subject turned personal” earlier this year, emphasizing that the relationship was “never physical but should have been disclosed to prevent the appearance of a conflict.”

She also said she did not directly report on the subject or use them as a source during that time.

Her attorney, Ari Wilkenfeld, emailed NPR on Tuesday that Nuzzi is “gratified though not surprised that two different investigations have determined that her reporting on the 2024 campaign was sound and that she did nothing wrong.”

“She is grateful for the editors, fact checkers, and artists with whom she worked and to the readers who have supported her with their time, subscriptions, and engagement,” Wilkenfeld added. “She looks forward to the next chapter of her career.”

Meanwhile, Nuzzi and her ex-fiancé are battling in court

Nuzzi is accusing her ex-fiancé, political journalist Ryan Lizza, of harassing and trying unsuccessfully to blackmail her back into a relationship after they broke up over the affair this summer.

Politico’s chief Washington correspondent and co-author of its influential Playbook, Lizza, denies the allegations.

But the personal drama has had professional consequences for him, too. When news of Nuzzi’s relationship broke in September, Lizza said he would recuse himself from any coverage related to Kennedy “because of my connection to this story through my ex-fiancée.” The two had been engaged since 2022.

Later, after Nuzzi’s allegations against him emerged, a spokesperson for Politico told several outlets that Lizza had been placed on leave, saying he and the publication “mutually agreed that it is in everyone’s best interest for him to step back and take a leave of absence while an investigation is conducted.”

Nuzzi alleges that Lizza “explicitly threatened to make public personal information about me to destroy my life, career, and reputation — a threat he has since carried out,” according to court filings obtained by CNN and the Washington Post. 

In the process, she alleges, Lizza stole a personal electronic device of hers, hacked her devices, leaked information about her to the press and tipped her employer off about her relationship. She says some of that information may have been “doctored” to hurt her more.

Nuzzi also accused Lizza of threatening her with physical violence to force her to take on “his share of financial responsibility to a joint contract with a book publisher.”

Lizza, for his part, denied Nuzzi’s claims and provided his own version of events in legal filings in D.C.’s Superior Court earlier this month, according to documents obtained by CNN and others.

He said Nuzzi’s claims were “defamatory lies that were meant to create sensational headlines, damage my reputation, and distract from press attention about Ms. Nuzzi’s catastrophically reckless behavior,” the Washington Post reported.

In court filings, Lizza said he discovered in mid-August that Nuzzi “had been cheating on me with a married man for almost a year.” He did not name Kennedy.

Lizza alleged that Nuzzi wanted to reconcile and said he offered to “help her get away from the disturbing relationship with her paramour” but “seriously doubted” it was possible for the two to have a future together.

He also said he persuaded Nuzzi to remove “reporting material” from her paramour from her most recent story. He said he thought she should pay back a publisher’s advance payment for their joint book project. He said this was the “second presidential cycle in a row where Ms. Nuzzi’s personal indiscretions have sabotaged our book project.”

Lizza and Nuzzi appeared virtually in court last week, where a judge scheduled a Nov. 19 trial date to consider Nuzzi’s petition for a protective order against Lizza.