New York Magazine has put Washington correspondent Olivia Nuzzi on leave for having an inappropriate personal relationship with former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
In a note to readers posted on its website late Thursday, the magazine acknowledged correspondent Olivia Nuzzi “had engaged in a personal relationship with a former subject relevant to the 2024 campaign while she was reporting on the campaign, a violation of the magazine’s standards around conflicts of interest and disclosures.”
The note said the magazine would not have allowed Nuzzi to cover the presidential campaign if it had been aware of the relationship, which Nuzzi acknowledged to the magazine’s editors.
“An internal review of her published work has found no inaccuracies nor evidence of bias,” the magazine said, adding it plans to conduct a more thorough third-party review and regrets “this violation of our readers’ trust.”
Status media reporter Oliver Darcy first broke the news of Nuzzi’s relationship with the candidate late Thursday. In a statement to Status, Nuzzi confirmed her relationship with Kennedy had “turned personal” earlier this year.
“During that time, I did not directly report on the subject nor use them as a source,” Nuzzi told Status. “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.”
Kennedy has been married to actress Cheryl Hines since 2014. Last month, he suspended his presidential campaign and backed former President Donald Trump and sought – to mixed success – to have his name removed from ballots in swing states to support the Republican nominee.
According to Status, Nuzzi’s personal relationship with Kennedy did not begin until after her 2023 profile of the former candidate had been published in November 2023. Her most recent profile for New York Magazine, a profile of Trump from earlier this month where she examined his ear following the assassination attempt in July, now appears with the note with the outlet's comment about Nuzzi.
Spectrum News has reached out to Kennedy's campaign for comment. But in a statement to CNN, a spokesperson for RFK Jr. said Kennedy "only met Olivia Nuzzi once in his life for an interview she requested, which yielded a hit piece."
Nuzzi first rose to prominence as an intern for Anthony Weiner's New York City mayoral campaign, writing an editorial for the New York Daily News about her experience. She was hired by The Daily Beast and received accolades for her reporting from outlets like Politico before joining New York Magazine. She was the subject of controversy in 2018 when she admitted to entering the home office of former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski without permission.