New York Magazine’s Olivia Nuzzi was nearly kicked off Air Force Two the day before the 2020 election.
The star reporter is currently on leave from the magazine after it was revealed that she had an alleged affair with former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., which she says was not physical.
Four years ago, she caused a stir when she traveled with Vice President Mike Pence and his family.
“She was the most disrespectful person I’ve ever worked with,” a former Pence aide told DailyMail.com, suggesting Nuzzi only took on the assignment to “openly mock everyone.”
The New York Magazine correspondent was tapped to be Pence’s daytime press pool reporter, and traveled to Michigan on Nov. 2 so the vice president could join President Donald Trump onstage for the final rallies of the 2020 cycle.
New York Magazine’s Olivia Nuzzi (pictured) was nearly kicked off Air Force Two the day before the 2020 election, with an aide to Vice President Mike Pence recalling the journalist as “the most disrespectful person I’ve ever worked with.”
Nuzzi accompanied Vice President Mike Pence (left) on Nov. 2, 2020, to Michigan so he could be onstage with former President Donald Trump (right) during his final rallies of the 2020 cycle.
A pool reporter’s job is to send top stories, quotes and location updates to the president or vice president, but Nuzzi had different ideas.
She titled one of the group’s reports an “existential crisis” and mused on whether Pence “thought he would spend much of his life this way” as the vice president listened to Trump’s lengthy campaign speech.
“I wonder if the vice president thought he would spend much of his life this way. If he would have done it again knowing what he knows now. Or did he know it all along? Was it worth it if he doesn’t end up becoming president, the outcome every vice president desperately hopes for?” he asked.
Throughout the day, he commented on Karen Pence’s appearance, even saying that her hat looked like one he would wear. Angelina Jolie wore it in the movie Changeling and going into great detail about the second lady’s sleeves.
“From this closer view, the observer noticed that the sleeves of Mrs. Pence’s jacket have striations, like little bells (but not full bell sleeves),” Nuzzi wrote.
From the staff’s perspective, Nuzzi went against journalistic protocol by breaking off-the-record agreements and sharing operational security details he shouldn’t have, DailyMail.com was told.
“And when he was asked to stop, he put all of that in the group reports,” the Pence aide said.
New York Magazine’s Washington correspondent appears on the campaign trail with former President Donald Trump in the final days of the 2020 election cycle
An aide to Vice President Mike Pence recalled that Olivia Nuzzi (right), pictured in the White House briefing room, was “the most disrespectful person I’ve ever worked with” and that she only traveled with Pence to “openly mock everyone.”
The aide added that Nuzzi “only made that trip so he could openly mock everyone in the group reports and then in his stories.”
Nuzzi tweeted that day that “due to popular demand,” New York Magazine would publish all of its reports from her day with Pence.
As the day wrapped up, Nuzzi wrote that she was “appalled” that “the VP’s office not only censored her pooler, but threatened to expel her from AF2, leaving her stranded in Grand Rapids.”
“To avoid being kicked off the flight, his wingman agreed to have no eye for detail and no personality for the rest of the night,” Nuzzi said. “But now, in the parking lot at (Joint Base Andrews), I’m free! I hope you are, too.”
In the words of Bob Dylan, “without freedom of speech, I might as well be in the swamp,” the magazine’s correspondent added.