In The Club

As with most club members, no one can really explain why.

By Tuesday, September 17, Darcy had reached out to Vox and Nuzzi. Initially, a rep for Vox and Nuzzi did not engage. Both appear to have been hoping that they could starve the story and prevent publication, confident the review would clear Nuzzi of any bias in her work. (Haskell would later tell staff an internal review “found no inaccuracies nor evidence of bias.”) On Wednesday Nuzzi was seen in the New York offices meeting with executive editor Genevieve Smith, Vox’s president Pam Wasserstein, and comms chief Lauren Starke. Haskell was in Milan for Fashion Week but joined the meeting via Zoom, as did Nuzzi’s editor, Jeb Reed, as the group discussed the review that was nearing completion. Around this time, Semafor received an anonymous email with a “news tip” about Nuzzi and Kennedy, its editor Ben Smith later wrote.

On Thursday the magazine’s planned response shifted several times throughout the day. The first involved Nuzzi being placed on leave with disclosures added to her work and the magazine issuing a statement. Another would have seen her request “medical leave” and there would be no statement or disclosures. Darcy kept calling. He was unequivocal he had the story and intended to publish. By Thursday evening, New York relented and provided a statement. Nuzzi was put on leave. Darcy published Thursday night. “Recently our Washington correspondent Olivia Nuzzi acknowledged to the magazine’s editors that she had engaged in a personal relationship with a former subject relevant to the 2024 campaign while she was reporting on the campaign, a violation of the magazine’s standards around conflicts of interest and disclosures,” New York’s statement read.