White House Deputy Press Secretary TJ Ducklo has been suspended for a week after harassing and threatening a Politico journalist who was pursuing a story about his romantic involvement with another journalist.
Vanity Fair reported that Ducklo responded angrily during an off-record call with Politico’s Tara Palmeri when she reported on her relationship with Alexi McCammond, an Axios reporter who met with Ducklo while covering Biden’s campaign.
“I’ll destroy you,” Ducklo told Palmeri during the call, during which he also made misogynistic comments and suggested she was “jealous” that an unidentified man was interested in McCammond and not her.
“TJ Ducklo has apologized to the journalist, with whom he has had a heated conversation about his personal life. He is the first to acknowledge that this is not the standard of conduct set by the president,” the House press secretary explained. White. Jen Psaki
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“In addition to his initial apologies, he has sent the journalist a personal note expressing his deep regret. With the approval of the White House chief of staff, he has been given a one-week suspension without pay,” he said. added. “Also, when he returns, he will no longer be assigned to work with any journalist at Politico.”
The news of Ducklo’s relationship with McCammond was made public over the weekend in a piece in People magazine. The two met during the campaign, and since then McCammond has been removed from covering Biden’s White House to avoid a conflict of interest, according to the piece.
Politico reported to Playbook earlier this week that the publication had arrived at the White House on the story weeks before the People’s story was published.
However, the Vanity Fair story released Friday provided new details about the process. The media reported that Ducklo tried to intimidate Palmeri into trying to kill the story.
When a Politico editor contacted the White House about the comments, Psaki, the White House communications director Kate Bedingfield
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Ducklo’s behavior has aroused special control given the comments President Biden
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“I’m not kidding when I say this: if you ever work with me and I hear you treat another partner with disrespect or talk to someone, I promise I’ll fire you right away. There’s no ‘yes,'” Biden said during a virtual swearing-in ceremony on the opening day.
“Everyone has the right to be treated with decency and dignity,” he said. “This has been significantly missing for the last four years.”