Olivia Nuzzi Chose RFK Jr.'s Outfits and 'Advised Him on Debate Prep' as Journalist Labeled His 'Private Political Operative' in Latest Scandal
Olivia Nuzzi allegedly played political fixer for RFK Jr. during his ill-fated presidential campaign.
Nov. 26 2025, Published 7:40 p.m. ET
Olivia Nuzzi's ex-fiancé has hurled allegations that the former New York magazine Washington D.C. correspondent became Robert F. Kennedy Jr's political fixer amid their torrid sexting scandal.
Ryan Lizza published part three of his Substack series on Wednesday, November 26. It exposed more salacious details about his journalist ex, 32, and the current Trump Cabinet member, including how Nuzzi was actively working to obtain information from her sources to feed directly to the then-2024 presidential candidate.
'Private Political Operative'
Nuzzi picked out a blue suit that RFK Jr. wore to a press event in the summer of 2024.
“Olivia had essentially become a private political operative for Bobby Kennedy, while publicly posing as a hard-nosed reporter,” Lizza, 51, claimed in the piece, titled Catch and Kill.
"Olivia also obtained information to help Bobby acquire Secret Service protection, advised him on debate prep, including what suit to wear for a key appearance, and provided him with detailed media strategy advice, among other things," the Politico correspondent alleged.
Lizza went on to claim Nuzzi and RFK Jr.'s scandal wasn't so much about sex, but rather it was "a scandal about journalistic ethics."
Securing Secret Service Protection
Nuzzi helped RFK Jr. get Secret Service protection by publicizing how DHS was holding up the process.
Lizza claimed Nuzzi worked her sources hard to find out why RFK Jr. was being denied Secret Service protection during his run for the presidency as an independent.
After the assassination attempt on Republican candidate Trump in July 2024, Nuzzi publicized that RFK Jr. submitted a new request to the Department of Homeland Security and publicly called out DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for holding up granting protection. The following day, Mayorkas caved to the bad publicity and gave Kennedy his Secret Service detail.
"She did all of this partly because she was afraid that he might get killed, but also because she knew if Bobby were surrounded by Secret Service agents, it would add a presidential sheen to his campaign. She argued that Secret Service protection would signal to the press and public that he should be taken more seriously," Lizza claimed.
Recording Trump
Nuzzi sent an artist to Mar-a-Lago with a tape recorder to get inside information of who Trump was speaking to, according to Ryan Lizza.
Lizza alleged Nuzzi and RFK Jr. teamed up to negotiate how he could endorse Trump when it became clear his own run for president was futile.
"Olivia also decided to write about Trump, and Bobby and Olivia started trading intel as they both turned their attention to Mar-a-Lago," he claimed.
Nuzzi allegedly wanted to get Trump to cooperate with an article she was writing for New York magazine by commissioning artist Isabelle Brourman, who worked as a sketch artist during the tycoon's Manhattan hush-money trial, to draw his portrait for the piece.
Since she was excluded from Brourman's portrait session at Mar-a-Lago, crafty Nuzzi allegedly put a recorder in the artist's pack, which recorded everything Trump said as he sat while she drew.
Lizza claimed that Trump "was taking campaign meetings with the likes of Matt Gaetz, Susie Wiles, and others. With any luck, Olivia would capture some great material for her piece and some intel for Bobby as he negotiated the endorsement."
The CNN senior political analyst went on to tease, "According to Olivia, when Izzy left the session, Izzy was hung up on something she believed Trump might have said about Butler, Pennsylvania – something explosive that, if she were correct, would shatter our understanding of recent history," presumably with the story unfolding in part four of Lizza's Substack series.
Endorsement Lead to Cabinet Position
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RFK Jr. now works for Trump as his Secretary of Health and Human Services.
RFK Jr. endorsed Trump on August 23, 2024, during a packed campaign stop in Phoenix, Arizona, becoming the first member of his family dynasty to break ranks with Democrats and support a Republican for president. He went on to become Trump's Secretary of Health and Human Services.
Nuzzi and Lizza's engagement ended in August 2024 after he learned about her sexting affair.
The following month, Nuzzi and RFK Jr.'s sexting scandal broke, with details spilling out about their inappropriate digital romance that developed while she was writing a New York magazine profile on the political scion in 2023.
Nuzzi was placed on leave from the magazine and fired the following month for her inappropriate relationship with the 71-year-old.
