New York magazine editor David Haskell said the rag would launch a full-throated investigation into its star Washington correspondent Olivia Nuzzi after she revealed a “personal” relationship with one of her reporting subjects—Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
“We are engaging an independent third party to run their own review of her 2024 writing, which I believe will help us see with clear eyes if there is more we need to disclose or anything we need to correct,” Haskell wrote to staff on Friday in a memo obtained by Semafor. “This will influence our final disciplinary decision.”
Nuzzi, 31, was placed on leave on Thursday for what the magazine called a “violation of our readers’ trust.” In a statement sent to the Daily Beast, Nuzzi, who previously worked for the Beast between 2013 and 2017, acknowledged a relationship with one of her sources but denied that it ever became physical.
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Reporter Olivia Nuzzi arrives for the White House Correspondents' Association dinner at the Washington Hilton in Washington, DC, April 29, 2023.
Stefani Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images“Earlier this year, the nature of some communication between myself and a former reporting subject turned personal. During that time, I did not directly report on the subject nor use them as a source. 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.”
The magazine said Nuzzi was “engaged in a personal relationship with a former subject relevant to the 2024 campaign while she was reporting on the campaign.” The relationship violated the publication’s editorial standards.
“Had the magazine been aware of this relationship, she would not have continued to cover the presidential campaign,” New York said in a statement.
The magazine’s response did not identify who the subject was, but media reporter Oliver Darcy’s Status newsletter identified him as former independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
A representative for Kennedy denied the story after its publication to Status, claiming, “Mr. Kennedy only met Olivia Nuzzi once in his life for an interview she requested, which yielded a hit piece.”
A representative for Kennedy did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Beast.
According to the report, Kennedy and Nuzzi were involved in a romantic relationship that did not begin until after she wrote a profile on the candidate in November 2023, shortly after he dropped out of the Democratic Primary and began a campaign as an independent.
New York said it conducted an internal review of Nuzzi’s work on the 2024 campaign trail but found “no inaccuracies nor evidence of bias.” The magazine also said it was “conducting a more thorough third-party review” of the incident.
Kennedy has been married since 2014 to actor Cheryl Hines, who has not publicly backed her husband’s rightward turn. Kennedy has since dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed Republican nominee Donald Trump.
