New York magazine says its star political reporter is on leave after a relationship was disclosed

New York magazine says that its highly regarded Washington correspondent, Olivia Nuzzi, is on leave after disclosing that she violated the publication's standards by having a personal relationship with a former reporting subject.

The newsletter Status, which broke the story, and The New York Times both cite unnamed sources in identifying Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the other person involved with Nuzzi. She has not confirmed Kennedy’s involvement, and Kennedy said in a statement that he had only met her once.

David Haskell, New York magazine editor in chief, said in a note to staff members on Friday that Nuzzi told them the relationship began last December, “after we had published her November profile.” Her only published profile that month was of Kennedy. The relationship reportedly ended in August, he wrote.

It’s an explosive development for the magazine and Nuzzi, whose piece featuring an interview with Donald Trump, “Peering into Donald Trump’s Ear, and Soul,” was featured on its most recent cover. Haskell said online versions of the Trump story and one Nuzzi wrote about Biden this summer will direct readers to a note explaining the situation.