Journalist Ryan Lizza announced his breakup with his "ex-fiancée" Olivia Nuzzi in his first public statement addressing allegations about her alleged affair with former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Lizza, 50, a co-author of Politico's Playbook, had not commented on the scandal until Friday afternoon.
In the "mediawatch" section of Playbook, it was noted that Status News' Oliver Darcy had reported that Nuzzi was placed on leave from New York Magazine following her "inappropriate relationship" with RFK Jr. Star reporter Nuzzi was put on leave on Thursday following allegation that she had an affair with RFK Jr., although she told her company that the relation was "not physical."
An Affair and a Break Up
"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," Lizza wrote.
Lizza, who once held the position of Washington Correspondent for The New Yorker, was fired following accusations of "inappropriate sexual conduct."
Recently, his personal life has drawn attention again after Nuzzi, 31, admitted an alleged affair with RFK Jr., 70, which reportedly began after she visited his $7 million California home to write a feature piece last November.
Nuzzi claims the relationship wasn't "physical," while New York Magazine is currently investigating the situation.
Lizza and Nuzzi were previously seen as a prominent power couple in Washington. Lizza gained widespread attention after publishing a controversial interview in 2017 with former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci.
In the interview, Scaramucci made vulgar remarks, including calling then-Chief of Staff Reince Priebus a "paranoid schizophrenic" and making an obscene comment about Chief Strategist Steve Bannon.
Scaramucci also threatened to fire staff members during the conversation, leading to heavy criticism for the crude nature of his remarks, particularly given his high-ranking position in the U.S. government. He was fired after just 11 days in office.
Not long after this interview was published, allegations against Lizza surfaced, which resulted in his firing from The New Yorker.
An Affair and Cheating
CNN, where Lizza was also working, conducted an investigation into the sexual misconduct allegations but concluded there was "no reason to remove [him] from the air."
Soon after, Politico hired Lizza, announcing that he would be co-authoring its flagship newsletter, Playbook, starting just one day before Biden's inauguration in 2021.
Lizza and Nuzzi had also been working together on a book about the 2020 election campaign, but the project was abandoned. In December 2021, Page Six reported that the publisher shelved the book after the pair failed to deliver the kind of insider information that drives political tell-all books.
Insiders revealed to The New York Post's gossip column that while the couple had strong connections to people in Trump's circle, those close to Biden "didn't trust" Nuzzi.
In September 2022, Nuzzi shared on her Instagram that Lizza, who had been married before, had proposed to her. She captioned the post "Fidanzati," the Italian word for "engaged."
