Olivia Nuzzi and Ryan Lizza have taken their next steps in their court battle over her ‘digital affair’ with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
New York Magazine parted ways with Nuzzi after she admitted to her bosses to having an “emotional and digital” affair with Kennedy, who is married to actress Cheryl Hines.
Nuzzi has hired high-powered, $800-an-hour attorney Ari Wilkenfeld, who previously represented one of Matt Lauer’s accusers and a whistleblower on behalf of unprotected healthcare workers during the coronavirus.
Wilkenfeld, who replaces Nuzzi’s previous representatives at Jezic & Moysz, will be busy, after lawyers for Lizza, co-author of Politico’s Playbook newsletter, filed papers trying to stop Nuzzi from sealing their legal battle.
His lawyers say Nuzzi is unfairly trying to “silence Mr. Lizza from telling his side of the story.”
Olivia Nuzzi and Ryan Lizza have taken their next steps in their court battle over her ‘digital affair’ with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
New York Magazine parted ways with Nuzzi after she admitted to her bosses to having had an “emotional and digital” affair with Kennedy, who is married to actress Cheryl Hines.
Lizza is reportedly taking a ‘leave’ after an explosive court filing alleged he blackmailed her over the rumored affair.
Nuzzi claimed before the D.C. Supreme Court that Lizza ‘explicitly threatened to make public personal information about me to destroy my life, career, and reputation, a threat she has since carried out.’
Now, Lizza wants to keep her legal battle public after Nuzzi filed a Civil Protection Order, which Lizza didn’t find out about until the press covered it.
“(He) wants his facts to be in the public domain, has nothing to hide, and respectfully requests that this court deny Ms. Nuzzi’s motion to seal,” his attorneys wrote.
“You would think that, as an experienced journalist, Ms. Nuzzi would share this Court and Mr. Lizza’s commitment to the press’s rights of access to information,” they added.
Lizza’s representatives demand that Nuzzi is being unfair by trying to seal the case before Lizza can publicly respond to her public accusations against him.
“(She) cannot file and discuss her Petition and her allegations with news organizations and then attempt to seal the very record she created to silence Mr. Lizza in this litigation.”
Lizza is represented by Bob Barnett and Simon Latcovich, who work at a firm that represented Bill Clinton in his impeachment trial.
Nuzzi has hired high-powered $800-an-hour attorney Ari Wilkenfeld, who previously represented one of Matt Lauer’s accusers and a whistleblower on behalf of unprotected healthcare workers during the coronavirus.
Lizza wants to keep her legal battle public after Nuzzi filed a Civil Protection Order, which Lizza didn’t find out about until the press covered it.
The couple will finally meet in court on November 19.
Kennedy has insisted that he only met the political journalist once when she profiled him last year.
‘Mister. “Kennedy only met Olivia Nuzzi once in her life for an interview she requested, which resulted in a shocking article,” her spokesperson told CNN. A source added that the nature of the relationship was “emotional and digital in nature, not physical.”
But inside sources told the New York Post that the couple had engaged in sexting even though RFK Jr. was married and Nuzzi was engaged to Politico’s chief Washington correspondent, Ryan Lizza, 50, at the time.
Nuzzi said that in early 2024, the nature of some communication between her and a former reporter became personal.
“Earlier this year, the nature of some communication between a former journalist and myself became personal,” Nuzzi said.
“During that time, I did not directly report on the issue or use them as a source,” he said.
‘The relationship was never physical but should have been revealed to avoid the appearance of conflict. “I deeply regret not doing so immediately and apologize to those I have disappointed, especially my colleagues in New York.”
Nuzzi had been suspended after she admitted to her bosses to having an “emotional and digital” affair with Kennedy, who is married to actress Cheryl Hines. Kennedy and Hines will meet in January 2024.
Olivia Nuzzi and New York Magazine have since parted ways after she was initially suspended for her affair with Robert Kennedy Jr.
New York magazine acknowledged an inappropriate relationship in a statement about Nuzzi’s hiatus, calling it “a violation of the magazine’s standards around conflicts of interest and disclosures.”
“If the magazine had been aware of this relationship, it would not have continued to cover the presidential campaign,” the statement read.
Nuzzi claimed before the D.C. Supreme Court that Lizza ‘explicitly threatened to make public personal information about me to destroy my life, career, and reputation, a threat she has since carried out.’
Lizza has said that he never hacked into any of Nuzzi’s devices, but rather that she told him about the relationship and its nature.
In his profile, Nuzzi described meeting the former presidential candidate at the $7 million California home he shares with his wife.
He painted a picture of RFK Jr. as an anti-establishment candidate, “turning the presidential election upside down.”
“Fear and denial is what Kennedy seems to inspire among the staid Washington establishment that supports the sitting president and the anti-establishment mafia establishment that supports the former president,” he wrote.
He referred to the conflict in RFK Jr.’s marriage over his appearance on Steve Bannon’s show and those of other right-wing personalities.
‘Bannon was just the beginning. Poor Cheryl,” Nuzzi wrote.
At the time the article was published, RFK Jr. was in the race as an independent candidate, but has since dropped out and endorsed Trump.
Nuzzi’s last article, in which he described the examination of Trump’s ear after the assassination attempt on Butler, was published by the magazine on September 9.