New York magazine reporter Olivia Nuzzi on leave yesterday after it was revealed she had engaged in a, quote, personal relationship with former independent candidate RFK Jr. According to New York magazine. A New York magazine spokesperson recently, [00:00:18] 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 [00:00:35] and disclosures. Had the magazine been aware of this relationship, she would not have continued to cover the presidential campaign. An internal review of her published work has found no inaccuracies nor evidence of bias. She is currently on leave from the magazine, and the magazine is conducting [00:00:52] a more thorough third party review. We regret this violation of our readers trust. Now independent Media reporter Oliver Darcy broke the news last night that the candidate was in fact RFK Jr. And he opened up about the relationship [00:01:08] to editors a few days ago. The reason why was unclear. The relationship reportedly began in December 2023 and ended in August, which means it started shortly after. Nazis November 2023 profile of RFK Jr. The mind bending politics [00:01:26] of RFK Jr. S spoiler campaign. He's a conservative, he's a liberal and he could turn the presidential race upside down. Now, a person familiar with the matter stated that the relationship between the two was emotional and digital in nature, but not physical, which he confirmed in her own statement, adding that she [00:01:46] never used her quote subject as a source. 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 [00:02:05] 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. While she didn't report directly on Kennedy herself after that, she did speak to reporters about RFK Jr. During that time, [00:02:24] according to Mediaite, back in March, he spoke to Frank Bruni of The New York Times regarding the state of possible third party threats. It's not a two man race. It's a three man race. A majority of Americans say they are unhappy [00:02:39] with another lesser of two evils contest, and they're in luck as they have a range of third party candidates to choose from. One of those candidates, RFK Jr, is polling competitively, especially among young people, and he's steadily gaining ballot access across the country. [00:02:56] The establishment press has been reluctant to cover Kennedy like a serious contender because they fear they will face criticism for, quote, platforming an anti-vaxxer. But the establishment press didn't doesn't get to decide who voters take seriously. In 2016, Gary Johnson and Jill Stein earned enough of the vote [00:03:14] in enough swing states to cost Hillary Clinton the election. Kennedy is performing way better than either of them ever did. Kennedy, of course, is currently married to actress Cheryl Hines, and he was engaged to Politico Chief Washington correspondent Ryan Lizza. [00:03:32] That engagement has since been called off, according to a statement from Lizza. He also stated he won't be involved in any coverage of Kennedy and Playbook or elsewhere in Politico. Kennedy's team, for the matter has adamantly denied this relationship between the two, [00:03:47] saying in a statement Mr. Kennedy only met Olivia Nuzzi once in his life for an interview she requested, which yielded a hit piece. Jake, we've talked a lot about RFK Jr. On this show over the past couple of months, [00:04:03] what do you make of this story? - Hey, don't scroll away. - Come back, come back. Because before the video continues, we just want to urge you to lend your support to TYT. You power our honest reporting. You do it at t t.com/team and we love you for it. First of all, I got to tell the audience I'm biased. [00:04:20] I'm biased in a couple of ways. Let me explain so I know Olivia and Ozzy. I know RFK Jr. We had both of them on the show recently, and I think Olivia Nazi is a great reporter otherwise. And so and part of the reason that I think she's a great reporter is [00:04:37] because she has a courage to break stories that the establishment doesn't like. And let me just note here that we had her on about a week ago. Why? Because old Biden apparatchiks were still trying to target her [00:04:53] to try to ruin her career, because she wrote what was a very honest piece about Joe Biden that made a difference in him dropping out of the race. No one disputes the veracity of her Biden piece, but the old Biden people caught feelings, and they've been trying to target her ever since. [00:05:10] And I don't know who leaked this story, but someone got her. So congratulations. You found something. And yeah, it's wrong. She should have reported to her magazine. We live in strange times, but I guess. Yeah, you know not. [00:05:29] I guess if you're having some sort of relationship with someone you're covering. Yes, you should definitely tell that to your editor. But was she covering him? Is my question. Because you got that one quote and she shouldn't have given that quarterback Kennedy, even though as I look at it, I think that quote was exactly accurate. [00:05:48] But she shouldn't have given it if she has some sort of relationship with him. But when they go to target someone, they'll find anything, anything at all. Remember the things that they made up about her in the beginning, she was joking about Obama like a decade ago, and they pretended that those jokes were real. [00:06:05] That didn't work. And so people. But it did work in intimidating Bloomberg into not publicizing her new show. This was enough for the for New York magazine to take the action that they did. So I guess congratulations to the hatchet men in the establishment [00:06:22] who got her, if that's what happened. But, you know, am I do I think that's it? Olivia Nazi. I don't trust her anymore. No, no, I think she's still a great reporter. And. But I'm telling you all my biases ahead of time. You make your own decision on how you view it, and and honestly, [00:06:38] I don't know what a digital affair is. I don't even know. Like, what is that? So. So the best you had is she had a digital affair with RFK Jr, a thing I don't even understand. Okay. All right. Mas o digital affair is a lot of, eggplant emojis. [00:06:56] - Jake, I guess. - Yeah. All right. Yeah. No. I mean, first of all, when you hear the way it's presented, as you said, I had an affair with someone who was in the presidential campaign. I guess the good news is, it wasn't Donald Trump. [00:07:11] Oh, jeez. And, And then and then. But then RFK just has so much crazy stuff that keeps coming out. Like, I kind of, you know, my heart goes out to Cheryl Hines because first, you know, he's the anti-vaxxer, then he's, you know, got the bears in the in the park, [00:07:30] and then he's got the worms in the head, and then he's and then he endorses Trump, which has got to be really hard to support someone who is endorsing Trump. And you're going, wow, you were critical of the guy, but now you're endorsing him. And now this comes out. And again, just like you, I don't know what it means to have a digital affair. [00:07:49] But it's got to be hard for her to be caught up in all of this stuff. And I just I'm just excited to see what's going to what what RFK news we're going to get next week because he he he dropped out of the race. And yet there's still news coming out about him. So that just shows you what a volatile person and life this guy has. [00:08:08] Yeah. Look, it's one more thing. So there's some things that I agree with RFK Jr on. There's plenty that I disagree with him on, including endorsing the Mad Men Donald Trump. So but the establishment hates both of them. This is a great twofer for them. Oh my God, whoever did this is high fiving. [00:08:25] And I don't know who did it, but they got to be ecstatic. We got both of them. We smeared them because they're human beings. But yes, she should not have given that quote. All right. I don't know if I'm underplaying it too much, but I'm giving you my honest opinion. [00:08:41] What do you. What do you think, Jordan? Well, I think let's look at the statement that she gave. Right. So we have the benefit of hindsight now, seeing that he's dropped out of the race and endorsed Trump. But when she gave that March 2024, that was perfectly in line, [00:08:57] in lockstep with RFK. The campaign's talking points. So he's polling competitively. Competitively? No he wasn't. No he wasn't. He never was. He was fighting for ballot access. He was struggling. [00:09:12] He may be in a couple polls, had double digits, but he was never competitive. And it was ridiculous that people were taking him seriously. That was just his talking point. So that to me is a big red flag on who did it. For all we know, it was the now ex-fiance. [00:09:29] He is probably upset and just gave it to a media reporter to take her down. I mean, that doesn't seem outlandish. I don't think this this is some sophisticated inside job to go after both of them. I think it's. She got caught by her fiance. [00:09:45] He is pissed, understandably called off the engagement, and he just gave the scoop to Oliver Darcy. That's the simplest explanation for me. And that's you could see in the statement him saying, my ex-fiance. I mean, as far as we know, they were engaged as of two weeks ago. [00:10:02] But also I think there is an issue that we should talk about beyond just her and RFK, and that is the proximity. A lot of reporters like to cultivate with people in power, and it reflects this problem that we talk about often on this network that they just want access. They want to be cozy, they want to go to the same parties, they want status. [00:10:21] And that's not the role of a reporter. This isn't the first time she's done that years ago. Messages from her and tweets from her kissing up to Ann Colter resurfaced her trying to befriend Ann Colter. That's not for a story. It's not to cultivate a source. [00:10:37] It's because she is somebody who likes to cozy up to people in power. That's been the knock on her for years. So I guess it wasn't surprising for all, of all reporters that she was the one to have this digital relationship. [00:10:53] But it speaks to a common problem in Washington, and that is reporters getting way too cozy in developing a symbiotic relationship with people in power. Okay, I'm glad you're that. The audience is getting to hear both sides of it so you guys can make up your own mind. But let me push back on a couple of things, I think. [00:11:11] RFK Jr was around 12 points at a minimum at that time, and that is so much higher than the 2 to 3% that Gary Johnson's and the Marianne Williamson's I'm sorry, not Marianne, the Jill Stein's have gotten in the past. And so I thought and I said on the show at the time, [00:11:28] that he was a significant player. It's a fine disagreement as to whether you think 12 points is a significant player as an independent. I think it is. I want to point out we don't know that it was her fiance. I definitely also don't know that it was someone in the establishment, so we don't know who leaked it. [00:11:44] I want to be clear about that. Those are two possibilities. There are others that are possibilities. And Jordan, to your main point about cozying up to power, I hear you on that. And I understand the the points that you're making, etc. But the reason why I thought Nazi was a great reporter was because most [00:12:01] reporters cozy up to power and then serve power, but Nazi would write honest pieces that the people in power hated. They hated it so much they went after her. Not necessarily in this case, but we know for sure when her Bloomberg [00:12:16] show was being released, right? And they tried to smear her with the old jokes. ET cetera. ET cetera. So if you cozy up to power and then you tell the truth about them, that's kind of what a good reporter does. You see what I'm saying? [00:12:31] I think in some circumstances, I think for the people who are part of the Washington elite and the social circle, Mark Leibovich did a great book on this called Our Town back in 2012. Just that's how many people in the media operate. [00:12:47] It's who can who can get me into these parties. How am I going to get invited here? Biden didn't have that social capital beyond just the white House Christmas party. You know, he's not a major player in the Washington social scene, you know? RFK is somewhat younger, but much more active, much more together. [00:13:05] Biden is just like, I think, a different type of person. She also got criticism for being too deferential to Trump, while also at points being critical of Trump. So I think if you remove it, if you remove just these presidential candidates, I guess the Biden thing, I think critical she got unwarranted criticism, [00:13:21] totally in agreement with you there. Other stories. Throughout the years, people have criticized her for being too cozy and too deferential. Yeah. Again, I you know, I just like you were saying earlier on, I don't even understand what this digital relationship is. [00:13:37] And, and the truth is, again, it's, you know, my heart goes out to, Rfk's wife in this situation because now he's got to deal with, you know, explaining that and the fact that they're denying it. I mean, if there's digital proof, then it's there. [00:13:53] And so it's going to come out. And by the way, he hasn't denied a lot of other crazy stuff, so why deny this? Just keep going with it. Well, probably because his marriage is probably on the line. That's why this one is different. You know, Cheryl Hines put up with the dead bear and the decapitated whale [00:14:10] and all that stuff. But but this is personal. And our hearts also go out to Ryan Lizza, who has to deal with this and in a public way. Guys, this is the problem with being a public figure. You have a messy divorce or you break off your engagement. That's very tough for you on a personal level, but the whole country [00:14:26] doesn't know about it. And in this case, they do. So to all the people who didn't do anything wrong and got hurt by it, I feel terrible for them. And the last thing I'll say, I guess, is that people are human beings. Man. I know we expect them to be perfect and it turns out we're not. [00:14:44] None of us are. So, when things cross a line that is way too far. Okay. Then we say, hey, that's that's definitely wrong. Right. And when you cross that ethical line in your profession, there's got to be consequences. [00:15:00] And that's what New York Magazine just did. Right. But on a personal level, I don't know the details of this past is digital and personal relationship. And if two human beings did that and it was wrong, I'm not ready to condemn [00:15:18] them for the rest of their lives. So everybody make up their own minds over it. And how much you think it was an egregious violation, but you just heard the unclear variety of opinions on it. Thanks for watching The Young Turks really appreciate it. 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