New York magazine’s top political reporter has taken a leave of absence from the publication following revelations that she had an alleged personal relationship with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a Kennedy scion who ran a high-profile independent campaign for the White House before endorsing Donald Trump.
In a statement, the magazine said Olivia Nuzzi, a writer who has written numerous feature articles on US politics, including about RFK Jr., had violated the magazine’s standards for disclosing conflicts of interest.
“Washington correspondent Olivia Nuzzi acknowledged to magazine editors that she had a personal relationship with a former campaign official while covering the 2024 presidential election, violating the magazine’s standards on conflicts of interest and disclosure,” New York reported.
They added: “If the magazine had known about this relationship, she would not have continued covering the presidential election. An internal investigation of her publication found no evidence of inaccuracy or bias. She is now on leave from the magazine while we conduct a more thorough, independent investigation. We regret that we violated our readers’ trust.”
In a statement, Nuzzi acknowledged the relationship but said it was not physical and that it developed after Nuzzi wrote an article about Kennedy and his fanciful, ultimately unsuccessful run for the White House.
“The nature of the communications between me and my former media subjects became personal,” Nuzzi said earlier this year.
“During that time, I never reported on this matter directly or used them as a source,” she said. “There was never a physical relationship, but I should have made it public to avoid creating the impression of a conflict. I deeply regret not coming forward sooner and I apologize to those I let down, particularly my colleagues in New York.”
A spokesman for RFK Jr. told CNN that Kennedy “had only ever met Olivia Nuzzi in his life, at her request, for an interview which resulted in the slanderous article being written.”
RFK Jr. is the son of Robert Francis Kennedy, who was assassinated while running for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1968, nearly five years after his brother, U.S. President John F. Kennedy.
RFK Jr.’s independent 2024 presidential campaign never quite managed to challenge either the Democrats or Republicans, and his extreme stances on some issues, particularly around vaccinations, have done little to endear him to mainstream Americans.
Nuzzi has become a well-known American journalist and television commentator. One of her recent articles involved an interview with Donald Trump, in which the former US president asked her to examine his ears after he was injured in an assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania. Reflecting on the experience, she wrote, “My ears have never been in such bad shape before.”
