Olivia Nuzzi's Book Bombed And Exposed The Media's Culture Of Corruption

The media took Olivia Nuzzi's unethically sourced hit piece on President Biden as gospel, and one year later her book bombed even though elite publications pushed it. Have they learned anything?

Don’t be so distracted by all of the Trump drama that you miss this story; this story had deep ramifications for our future as a country.

Olivia Nuzzi’s unethically sourced story was a kill shot that helped get Donald Trump elected. It was designed to protect and embiggen her alleged lover’s presidential campaign and safeguard his position in a possible Trump administration.

It was designed to take out the sitting president to clear a path for her alleged lover’s political career, either as president or in the president’s cabinet. And it worked because the media took the word of a gossip columnist with unnamed sources.

Now, journalist and Nuzzi’s former fiancé, Ryan Lizza has unloaded new accusations that launch these ethical breaches into the hemisphere of betrayal so big as to be incomprehensible.

The most damning quote, the one used later by a New York Times columnist to argue that Biden should step down, was that Biden didn’t recognize a campaign donor.

New allegation: The devastating quote was an off-the-record quote written while Nuzzi was campaign strategizing for a Biden opponent

Lizza recently came out with a bombshell allegation in his Telos News Substack that the kill shot quote was an off-the-record quote:

A week after Bobby’s event—yes, he wore a blue suit—Olivia published her piece about Biden, savaging him as a drooling invalid. I was shocked when I read the piece because she had included an anecdote about Biden not remembering the name of a “Democratic megadonor” that I knew had been told to her off the record.

“How did you get that in there?” I asked.

“I just sort of Michael Wolffed it,” she replied, which was jarring to me because previously she was scrupulous about sourcing.

Her piece was promoted as an account of “the conspiracy of silence to protect” Biden.

Please note the quotes around the media narrative that there was a “conspiracy of silence to protect” Biden. Put a pin in this, because it’s going to be part of our country’s history.

Michael Wolff has faced scrutiny for his use of anonymous sources and sometimes disputed details, and has been accused (by the Right, mainly) of factual errors, inconsistencies, and possibly fabricated quotes. Recently he made news for insisting of his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein “that it’s normal to ‘ingratiate’ oneself with sources—even if that means serving as a de facto media adviser to the late sexual predator.”

(Reader: It is not normal. How can one be objective if they are this close to a source? It seems silly, but this is why, for example, I turned down invitations to then Speaker Pelosi’s Christmas party for the press. I just don’t see how people can be objective when they are hanging out with the people they cover. Insert arguments here about access being important to get scoops, which is what gets eyeballs, which is why the media loves it when Trump is in office and see if you can’t tell why we are back in this hellscape again. Please do try not to reward such craven calculus with your rapt attention lest we never escape. The bombing of Nuzzi’s book is a positive sign on this front.)

An off-the-record quote is information shared cannot be published or quoted. It’s used for background only. It’s an honor system that is crucial for trust and integrity.

“During much of this period, Olivia was reporting and writing a major article about Joe Biden, considered the single most devastating piece about the president in all of 2024.”

She wrote this story as she was helping RFK Jr. get Secret Service protection and helping him with debate prep etc.:

“She 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. During much of this period, Olivia was reporting and writing a major article about Joe Biden, considered the single most devastating piece about the president in all of 2024. Later, she would use a major assignment to gather intelligence that would help Bobby negotiate the terms of his Trump endorsement, a caper that included a clandestine operation at Mar-a-Lago never revealed. Olivia had essentially become a private political operative for Bobby Kennedy, while publicly posing as a hard-nosed reporter.”

“In June, Olivia was working on two big things: a profile of Joe Biden’s cognitive decline and a strategy memo to help Bobby revive his dying campaign.”

The questions I have about this quote are seemingly endless, but to start with, if it was OTR, how did it get published. How did her story then pass both New York Magazine’s internal review and an independent third-party investigation, which they claimed found no inaccuracies or evidence of bias in Olivia Nuzzi’s published work after the affair became public?

And perhaps most importantly given Lizza’s description of how Nuzzi was spending most of her time helping RFK Jr. get Secret Service protection (I called that when it happened, by the way, it was so obviously a play to embiggen him while throwing conspiratorial shade at the Biden administration) and allegedly secretly recording Trump and his campaign people for a fawning piece allegedly meant to ensure RFK Jr.’s place in the potential future administration:

Who was the source for the quote that set a false narrative that impacted the most consequential election in our lifetimes?

Nuzzi was spending her personal and professional time around Republican presidential teams, at least one of which might have had connections to fringe type Democrats. Is a fringe Democrat the source of the quote? Was it a Republican? Was it her alleged lover? Was it someone on her alleged lover’s campaign?

Ethical Breaches with Global Impact

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