Update: Responding to reports of the Olivia Nuzzi affair being left out of Politico’s Playbook, Ryan Lizza said in a statement to The New York Times on Friday, “Because of my connection to this story through my ex-fiancée, my editors and I have agreed that I won’t be involved in any coverage of Kennedy in Playbook or elsewhere at Politico.” Politico has since added the story to the PM edition of Friday’s Playbook, without Lizza on its byline.
Original story: Politico’s Playbook newsletter conspicuously failed to mention Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reportedly had a “personal relationship” with New York Magazine reporter Olivia Nuzzi in its 4,000-plus word post on Friday. The newsletter, like it is most days, was co-authored by Ryan Lizza, Nuzzi’s now reportedly ex-fiancé.
The omission comes the morning after Status news first reported the relationship between Kennedy, who is married to “Curb Your Enthusiasm” star Cheryl Hines, and Nuzzi. Playbook’s lead blurb on Friday was on Republican North Carolina Lt. Governor Mark Robinson, who was caught in a porn site scandal on Thursday, followed by a note on in-person early voting starting in multiple states.
Lizza, one of Politico’s top Washington reporters, was engaged to Nuzzi in 2022, but “the pair called off the marriage in the last few weeks,” the New York Post reported. Previously, the couple would make occasional appearances together on CNN, discussing things like the 2020 Presidential election.
“Recently our Washington Correspondent Olivia Nuzzi acknowledged to the magazine’s editors that she 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,” a New York magazine spokesperson told Status.
“Had the magazine been aware of this relationship, she would not have continued to cover the presidential campaign.”
Nuzzi wrote a feature story on RFK Jr. last November for New York, with the two going hiking together in the Santa Monica mountains. In early 2024, Nuzzi said the relationship between her and a “former reporting subject turned personal,” in a statement shared with Status.
“During that time, I did not directly report on the subject nor use them as a source,” Nuzzi said. “The relationship was never physical but should have been disclosed to prevent the appearance of a conflict.”
Nuzzi has been placed on leave by New York Magazine. Politico did not immediately respond Friday to a request for comment.