In mid-2007, journalist Mike Allen launched Politico Playbook, a daily informative newsletter. Tens of thousands of people quickly subscribed, and soon the Playbook was the first thing everyone in Washington, politicians, journalists, officials, diplomats, and lobbyists, read upon waking up. In 2021, the outlet hired veteran reporter Ryan Lizza to take over the newsletter. Many things have happened since then, starting with the correspondent losing his job, but one thing remains the same: right now, everyone in Washington starts their day compulsively checking Lizza's blog with their first coffee.
But not to find out the latest about Donald Trump or to learn about disputes in Congress, but to see if the new installment of the current sensation has been published: the personal soap opera of the author and his famous ex-girlfriend, the lover of presidential candidates. An incredible story of unethical journalists, jealousy, infidelity, conspiracies, and excessive ambitions.
In September of last year, the magazine New Yorker unexpectedly suspended one of its stars, the political correspondent in the capital, Olivia Nuzzi, after it was revealed that she was in a personal relationship that jeopardized the credibility of her work. In a city where no secret takes a nap, it was soon known that her lover was Robert F. Kennedy Jr., son of former Senator Robert F. Kennedy, nephew of JFK, a recent presidential candidate, and in 2025, Trump's Health Minister.
Politically, the story had little impact. Kennedy, like his entire family, thrives on scandals. Divorced with many past affairs, he had recently gone viral for claiming to have a giant dead worm in his brain, burying a bear he had in the trunk in Central Park, or poisoning himself with mercury from eating too much fish. The story hardly harmed him, so the protagonist, undoubtedly, was Nuzzi. And she continues to be so 14 months later.
The journalist then claimed that her relationship with Kennedy Jr. "never became physical," that it was almost platonic. This did not prevent her from defending him on talk shows or writing about the campaign, criticizing, for example, President Joe Biden, a potential rival. No one believed her.
From Star Couple to Restraining Orders
Time has shown that there was much, much more. At that time, Nuzzi was in a relationship with the aforementioned Ryan Lizza, a powerful, well-known, and well-connected figure, but also with his own baggage. Lizza had managed to bounce back after falling from grace when he was fired from the magazine New Yorker in 2017 for "inappropriate sexual behavior". He always denied doing anything wrong, saying it was a relationship that ended badly, but his reputation was severely tarnished, and he lost credibility and highly paid collaborations on television.
After the infidelity with Kennedy, the relationship between Nuzzi and Lizza, who lived together in the luxurious Georgetown neighborhood and mingled with the capital's elite, ended very badly. She accused him of leaking the story to seek revenge and ruin her reputation and career, even going to court alleging that he was harassing and hacking her computer and phone, requesting a restraining order. He responded with another lawsuit, speaking of "fantastic falsehoods," "blackmail," and "orchestrating a plot with the help of a high-ranking Trump official to try to imprison me." They ended up distancing themselves, withdrawing the lawsuits, and signing a sort of truce. Until today.
"THE SECOND CYCLE IN WHICH HER PERSONAL INDISCRETIONS..."
Politico sidelined Lizza and relegated him to a secondary role until he eventually left the position and started a small alternative outlet, Telos News, little more than a blog. He wanted her to return the advance for a commissioned book, alleging that "this is the second consecutive presidential cycle in which Mrs. Nuzzi's personal indiscretions have sabotaged our editorial project." At that time, not much attention was paid to that cryptic reference. Now, it is at the center of the story.
In 2024, Nuzzi moved to Los Angeles and surprisingly landed a new job at Vanity Fair. Additionally, she started writing a book, which is being released this month. In American Song, a subtle reference to Dante'sDivine Comedy and his journey through hell, she details her relationship with Kennedy Jr., how she was in love, and what they felt and said. She also revealed this in a lengthy article agreed upon with The New York Times, proving that her past claims of a platonic relationship were not true.
Her return was already gossip in the media universe. But an unexpected twist has shaken the country. Last Tuesday, Lizza posted an entry on his blog giving his version of what happened, from the beginning. Very beginning. The text, full of suspense, makes references to the journalist's past, whom he was friends with before being a couple. Criticisms of how she was a drama specialist due to her training as a child actress. And details of other romantic relationships. For example, the one she had with MSNBC presenter Keith Olbermann, 34 years her senior. "He paid for her college, dressed her in Tom Ford and Hervé Léger dresses, and gave her Cartier jewelry worth about $15,000. Later, he paid her rent and furnished her apartment in a doorman building in the West Village," the post revealed.
But the explosive part comes at the end of the text. In the last lines. Lizza recounts how, upon discovering the sexual references to the presidential candidate, he called his literary agent to say there was a huge crisis and they wouldn't be able to write the book about the campaign they had agreed upon, for which they had received a hefty advance. "We have a big problem — I said —. Olivia is sleeping with Mark Sanford." Within minutes, social media went crazy. Throughout his writing, Lizza didn't mention Robert Kennedy and the 2024 campaign but Mark Sanford, another Republican politician who briefly ran for president... in 2020! And his partner, Nuzzi, had been involved with both candidates.
Internet users quickly found numerous past tweets. One of Nuzzi criticizing TV series writers for always suggesting that young female journalists sleep with their sources, as in House of Cards. Another where, after interviewing Sanford, a reader replied that she had the effect of making the men around her appear happy. The scandal is the talk of the town, a way for everyone to benefit. Free publicity for the new book, but also for the emerging publication of the deceived ex-boyfriend. The politicians, mere bystanders.
But the soap opera has escalated. In two additional posts, now only accessible to subscribers and filled with personal and sexual details, Lizza claims that his ex-fiancée was not just Robert Kennedy's mistress but practically part of his campaign team. He asserts that Nuzzi worked for him, "a political operator" who wrote articles to help him achieve things, such as Secret Service protection. That she advised him on his speeches, his attire, and even used her journalist access to other politicians to gather useful information.
Lizza insists that Nuzzi withheld valuable information that her magazine would have wanted to publish. That she even revealed the identities of sources from his own campaign who had spoken to her in secret, exposing them to be fired, the ultimate betrayal by a journalist.
But the juiciest part is left for the upcoming chapters. The journalist, squeezing the story and his blog for all it's worth, claims that Nuzzi, who had a good relationship with Trump and his team, sent a portrait artist with a secret recorder to gather information at Trump's residence in Mar-a-Lago. Information to help her partner, who by then had realized his presidential aspirations were dead and was trying to secure a significant position in the future government in exchange for publicly supporting the Republican leader.
Lizza does not reveal whether there are audio tapes, or what came out of that espionage operation, but he hints at something very big. "According to Olivia, when the painter left the session, she was obsessed with something she believed Trump might have said about Butler, Pennsylvania; something explosive that, if true, would shatter our understanding of recent history," she notes about the attack that nearly cost Trump his life in July 2024. And that undoubtedly changed the history of the country.