It wouldn’t be campaign season without a sordid love story.
2024 finally reached this point.
And a horrible sex scandal turned Donald Trump’s campaign upside down.
Sex scandal rocks Robert F. Kennedy’s political future
Robert F. Kennedy dropping out of the Presidential race to endorse Donald Trump was a big moment.
Kennedy attracted the type of nontraditional, anti-establishment that Trump needed to turnout if he wanted to win on November 5.
But now it’s in doubt if Trump can deploy Kennedy on the campaign trail.
Oliver Darcy reported that the 70-year-old Kennedy allegedly carried on a romantic relationship with 31-year-old New York Magazine writer Olivia Nuzzi after Nuzzi began covering his campaign in November 2023.
Darcy’s report included a statement from New York Magazine announcing that Nuzzi was now on leave.
“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,” the New York Magazine statement read.
“Had the magazine been aware of this relationship, she would not have continued to cover the presidential campaign,” the statement continued. “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 a more thorough third-party review. We regret this violation of our readers’ trust.”
Nuzzi’s statement
Nuzzi then released a statement of her own, saying her relationship with Kenndey turned personal but denied that it was physical.
“Earlier this year, the nature of some communication between myself and a former reporting subject turned personal,” Nuzzi’s statement read.
Nuzzi claimed that during the course of this relationship she never reported on Kennedy or used him as a source.
“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,” Nuzzi added.
This story calls into question if the Trump campaign can still deploy Kennedy on podcasts or the campaign trail.
Kennedy is married to actress Cheryl Hines.
Any Kennedy interview or campaign appearance will invite questions about this scandal.
What could spare Kennedy heat over this matter is Nuzzi’s engagement to POLITICO’s Ryan Lizza, a member of the liberal media in good standing.
Other reporters may not want to embarrass a colleague by calling attention to this scandal.
But on the other hand, Kennedy did endorse Donald Trump.
And that automatically makes him a hated figure on the Left, so everything is fair game.
