White House press secretary Jen Psaki grunted on Friday when asked about TJ Ducklo’s weeklong suspension for threatening a journalist – although President Biden has promised to fire his advisers “on the spot” for harassment.
Psaki said that Ducklo’s comments – which threatened to “destroy” Politico reporter Tara Palmeri for reporting on his personal relationship – were “completely unacceptable”, but declined to explain why he was not fired.
“We felt it was a serious punishment,” Psaki told reporters at a press conference at the White House.
Biden’s promise of zero tolerance came when he swore on his nominees on the day of the inauguration.
“I’m not kidding when I say that, if you’re working with me and I hear that you treat another colleague with disrespect … talk to someone, I promise I’ll fire you on the spot,” he said at the time. “On site. I don’t want any excuses. Everyone has the right to be treated with decency and dignity. This has been missing a lot in the past four years. “
Ducklo was suspended without pay for a week because of his speech to Palmeri, to whom he also apologized. When he returns, he will no longer be assigned to work with Politico reporters.
Psaki dodged a question about Biden’s comments on January 20, saying that Ducklo’s punishment fits the crime.
“It doesn’t meet our standard, it doesn’t meet the president’s standard,” she said. “It was important that we took a step to make that clear and that included not only an apology directly from him and our apologies directly from the top echelons, but also a step to suspend him for a week without pay. This, in our opinion, was an important step in sending the message that we do not consider it acceptable. “
Psaki also said he did not discuss Ducklo’s conduct or punishment with Biden.