On Friday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki publicly reprimanded her deputy for inappropriate comments made by a female journalist on the day of the inauguration.
Vanity Fair reported Friday that White House Deputy Press Secretary TJ Ducklo had threatened to “destroy” Politico journalist Tara Palmeri, who had asked about her relationship with Axios reporter Alexi McCammond. McCammond had been covering Joe Biden’s presidential campaign, and romantic relationships between journalists and their sources may raise ethical concerns.
According to Vanity Fair, in the off-record phone call, Ducklo made misogynistic comments to Palmeri, accusing her of being “jealous” that another man “wanted” to find McCammond and not Palmeri, according to Vanity Fair. The magazine also reported that Ducklo told Palmeri, “I’ll destroy you” if he continued with the story. It was also noted that a male Politico journalist had been assigned to ask Ducklo about the relationship, while Palmeri was approaching McCammond. Instead of contacting the male reporter, Ducklo contacted Palmeri, according to Vanity Fair.
Psaki admitted Friday that the conversation did not meet “the standard of conduct set by the president.” This standard was articulated by President Biden his first day in office, apparently at the same time as Ducklo threatened Palmeri.
“I’m not kidding when I say this. If you ever work with me and feel treated like another disrespectful colleague, talk to someone, I promise I’ll fire you right away,” Mr Biden said. “In situ. There is neither yes nor no, but everyone has the right to be treated with dignity and dignity.”
It is unclear why it took more than three weeks in the White House to discipline Ducklo.
CBS News has not been able to verify the call independently, but the conversation three weeks ago sparked a series of moves from the White House communications office, two people familiar with the situation told CBS News.
The next day, January 21, when Mr. Biden issued several executive orders, White House chief adviser Anita Dunn, communications director Kate Bedingfield, and Psaki spent part of the day on the phone with the heads of Palmeri to Politico and they acknowledged that what Ducklo had said was not acceptable. They promised to apologize, the two people familiar with the discussion said.
Then, “Ducklo sent Palmeri an email stating that he felt he had lost his temper, but did not delve into any specific details or apologize for threatening and sexually harassing the reporter,” Vanity Fair reported.
White House officials complained to Politico’s management that Palmeri had not honored his exceptional deal with Ducklo because he discussed the conversation with his editors, according to a source familiar with the situation. But being “off the record” is an agreement between a journalist and the source that the conversation information should not be published. Politico maintained this agreement.
The day after the tense phone call, Palmeri and his colleagues were to arrange a live broadcast with an interview with Cedric Richmond, a senior White House adviser. That event had been announced on January 19th.
According to emails obtained by CBS News that were sent the morning of the event, Politico asked if Palmeri could interview Richmond alongside one of his colleagues, Ryan Lizza.
“Let’s just Ryan,” White House Deputy Director of Communications Kate Berner responded, adding that the White House had previously agreed to only one moderator: Lizza.
The video of the event shows that Politico went ahead with the live broadcast without Palmeri as an interviewer or on the board, although Palmeri was listed as a panelist in the event’s announcement.
Palmeri declined to comment, referring the request to Politico, who provided a statement from its main editors, saying in part, “No POLITICO journalist — or any other publication or network — should ever be subjected to to these baseless personal attacks while doing his job. “
Another person familiar with the circumstances said Palmeri had been removed from the virtual event because she was unexpectedly caught in traffic and her absence had nothing to do with the consequences of the exchange with Ducklo the day before.
The first published story about Ducklo’s relationship was not published by Politico, but by People magazine earlier this week, Monday night. Many White House employees shared the article on social media.
Less than 12 hours later, Politico Playbook reported that the story in People magazine had been published after Politico had notified the White House of its intention to publish a story about Ducklo’s relationship.
An Axios spokesman told CBS News that McCammond revealed his relationship with Ducklo to his editors in November and called for the removal of Biden’s campaign coverage. She was reassigned to cover then-elected Vice President Kamala Harris, the progressive and progressive Congress movement.
“Alexi is a valuable member of the Axios team,” the Axios spokesman said, “and we are behind her and her coverage.”
Ducklo will serve an unpaid suspension for the entire week and stop working with Politico reporters, according to Psaki.
The press secretary described the threatening phone call as a “heated conversation about [Ducklo’s] personal life, “and said Ducklo has apologized to Palmeri. CBS News’ Weijia Jiang pressured Psaki at the White House briefing on why the disciplinary action was carried out weeks after the incident and after the publication of the story about the threats.Psaki simply replied, “You’re right.”
“There were conversations that took place with the journalist, as well as with Politico’s editors, immediately after the conversation,” Psaki said. “That’s how we committed ourselves privately. And, you know, that was what we considered appropriate at the time.”
Psaki said Friday that Mr. Biden did not participate in the discussion and that the one-week suspension was approved by White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain.