Politico’s chief Washington correspondent Ryan Lizza is on a leave of absence after his former fiancée Olivia Nuzzi filed a court complaint accusing him of blackmail and harassment.
Just when you thought this story could not get any more awesome…
This all started earlier in the month when Nuzzi was herself placed on leave by New York Magazine, where she was considered their star reporter. Everything fell apart when it was discovered she had been reporting on Robert F. Kennedy Jr. while pursuing a personal relationship with him.
According to various sources, after interviewing Kennedy, who is married to actress Cheryl Hines, Nuzzi got flirtatious during a phone call. Kennedy responded by blocking her number. Through various machinations, she was able to convince him to unblock her once in a while. Then per the source, she would send him sexy pictures of herself. Someone leaked this information to New York Magazine. Nuzzi was put on leave. Lizza announced Nuzzi was now his EX-fiancée. Kennedy is currently looking into suing her.
But now, Now, NOW(!) things are even more juicy…
In her court complaint, Nuzzi says that Lizza “explicitly threatened to make public personal information about me to destroy my life, career, and reputation—a threat he has since carried out.”
Nuzzi also claims “Lizza had stolen a personal electronic device from her, was hacking her devices, then anonymously shopping information about her to the media.” She adds that some of this information might have been “doctored” by Lizza to look worse than it was. She also believes Lizza impersonated “an anonymous campaign operative” to damage her reputation with a political campaign.
Per the court document, Nuzzi believes it was Lizza who told her employer about her relationship with Kennedy. She further alleges he “threatened her with violence to assume his share of financial responsibility for a joint book contract they had.”
According to her, it was all about blackmailing her into not breaking up with him.
As of now, a judge has granted Nuzzi’s request to bar Lizza from having any contact with her. A court date is set for October.
So, from what I can see, Nuzzi (31) is looking to blame Lizza for her career implosion and Lizza (50), who’s denying all the allegations, is either innocent or being used as roadkill by a femme fatale to salvage her career.
Either way, who cares? They are both awful people, left-wing propagandists, and your heart must be made of kryptonite if you don’t find every twist and turn of this story absolutely delightful.
And let’s not forget that these are not the first misconduct allegations to hit Lizza. Back in 2017, the New Yorker fired him over sexual misconduct allegations. A year later, he was caught stalking and harassing the parents of then-Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA).
Somehow bad people always land on their feet.
John Nolte’s first and last novel, Borrowed Time, is winning five-star raves from everyday readers. You can read an excerpt here and an in-depth review here. Also available in hardcover and on Kindle and Audiobook.
