New York Magazine’s Olivia Nuzzi was nearly thrown off her Air Force Two plane the day before the 2020 election.
The star reporter is currently on leave from the magazine after it emerged she had an alleged romantic affair with former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – which she claims was not physical.
Four years ago, she caused a stir when she traveled with Vice President Mike Pence and his family.
“She was the most disrespectful person I’ve ever worked with,” a former Pence aide told DailyMail.com, claiming Nuzzi had accepted the assignment solely to “openly mock everyone.”
The New York Magazine correspondent was chosen as Pence’s “pool” reporter for the day. He traveled to Michigan on Nov. 2 so the vice president could share the stage with President Donald Trump for the final rallies of the 2020 campaign.
New York Magazine’s Olivia Nuzzi (pictured) nearly got kicked off Air Force Two the day before the 2020 election. An aide to Vice President Mike Pence said the journalist was “the most disrespectful person I’ve ever worked with.”
Nuzzi accompanied Vice President Mike Pence (left) to Michigan on Nov. 2, 2020, so he could share the stage with former President Donald Trump (right) during their final rallies of the 2020 presidential election cycle.
A pool reporter’s job is to send news items, quotes and location updates to the president or vice president, but Nuzzi had other ideas.
She called one of the pool reports an “existential crisis” and wondered whether Pence “thought he would spend so much of his life this way” as the vice president listened to Trump’s long-winded speech.
“I wonder if the VP thought he would spend so much of his life like this. If he had done it again with the knowledge he has now. Or did he know all along? Was it worth it, if he doesn’t end up being president – the outcome every vice president so desperately hopes for?” she asked.
Throughout the day she commented on Karen Pence’s appearance – saying, among other things, that her hat looked like ahat that Angelina Jolie wore in the movie Changeling and goes into detail about the sleeves of the second lady.
“From this closer vantage point, your pooler noticed that the sleeves of Mrs. Pence’s jacket are fluted, like small bells (but not with full bell sleeves),” Nuzzi wrote.
From the staff’s perspective, Nuzzi violated journalist protocol by violating agreements she was not supposed to make public and sharing operational security details she was not supposed to share, DailyMail.com was told.
“And when she was asked to stop, she put it all in the pool reports,” the Pence aide said.
New York Magazine Washington Correspondent is pictured on the campaign trail with former President Donald Trump in the final days of the 2020 election cycle
An aide to Vice President Mike Pence recalled that Olivia Nuzzi (right), photographed in the White House press briefing room, was “the most disrespectful person I’ve ever worked with” and traveled with Pence only to “openly mock everyone”
The aide added that Nuzzi “only went on that trip so she could openly mock everyone in the pool reports and later in her stories.”
Nuzzi tweeted that day that “by popular request,” New York Magazine would be publishing all of her poolside reports from her day with Pence.
At the end of the day, Nuzzi wrote that she was “stunned” that “the Vice President’s office not only censored your pooler, but threatened to kick her off AF2, leaving her stranded in Grand Rapids.”
“To avoid being thrown off the flight, your pooler agreed to have no attention to detail or personality for the rest of the evening,” Nuzzi said. “But now, in the parking lot of (Joint Base Andrews), I’m free! I hope you are too.”
In the words of Bob Dylan, “Without freedom of speech, I’d be in the swamp,” the magazine’s correspondent added.