Eyebrows of colleagues and competitors in the media were raised when the words “Maria Cantwell” rolled off the tongue of CNBC correspondent John Harwood during “The Daily Rundown,” just months after the New York Post claimed that the two were dating.
Harwood mentioned the Senate Democrat Friday morning when discussing the financial regulatory overhaul from last week, connecting him again to the senator.
In a Page Six item from March 5, the Post reported that Harwood separated from his wife Frankie Blackburn and had been dating Cantwell, and when the press caught wind, Harwood cried to a D.C. reporter to kill the story.
But even before the story played out, the buzz around both Capitol Hill and the NBC green room was the two started dating shortly after Harwood split with his wife. Although the Facebook relationship statuses of both Blackburn and Harwood say “married,” sources say Harwood has been out dating, and asking friends to set him up.
Harwood did not deny the relationship in the Post’s piece, instead saying, “I don’t feel comfortable talking about my family life,” but when Yeas & Nays asked Harwood on Monday about a relationship, he flat out denied it.
“You are asking about a bunch of stuff that is none of your business,” Harwood said. “I told you the relevant part, which is no conflict ever, no relationship ever, no story. Like there’s nothing.”
He also refuted the claim that he cried to a reporter, and when asked about an e-mail he circulated inquiring for dating prospects and mentioning Cantwell, he said, “I doubt it.”
John Diamond, a spokesman in Cantwell’s office said, “No comment on if they ever were or anything along those lines.”
The New York Times, where Harwood is a correspondent, is standing by its man.
“The editors have complete confidence in John’s work which always meets and exceeds the high ethics standards of the New York Times,” said spokesman Robert Christie.
CNBC also is on Team Harwood.
“Last week John, like other journalists covering financial regulation, reported that Sen. Cantwell and Sen. [Russ] Feingold voted against cloture on the bill. He’s not in a personal relationship with either one of them,” CNBC spokesman Brian Steel said.
