White House deputy press secretary TJ Ducklo announced on Saturday that he is waiving the “abominable, disrespectful and unacceptable” threats he made to a reporter in January. Ducklo’s resignation came a day after he had put on a weeklong suspension about the incident.
Vanity Fair reported on Friday that Ducklo threatened to “destroy” Politico reporter Tara Palmeri if she continued to pursue a story about her relationship with Axios reporter Alexi McCammond. McCammond had already covered the Biden campaign until November, when she told her editors about her relationship with Ducklo and was transferred to cover progressives and Vice President Kamala Harris.
CBS News was unable to independently verify the call, but the conversation three weeks ago led to a series of measures by the White House communications office, two people familiar with the situation told CBS News. It is not clear why it took more than three weeks for the White House to discipline Ducklo.
In a statement posted on Twitter, Ducklo said he was “devastated to have embarrassed and disappointed” President Biden and others in the White House.
“No words can express my grief, my embarrassment and my disgust for my behavior,” said Ducklo in a statement. “I used language that no woman should hear from anyone, especially in a situation where she was just trying to do her job. It was a language that was abhorrent, disrespectful and unacceptable.”
“I knew it was terrible. I know I can’t go back. But I also know that I can learn from it and do better,” continued Ducklo. “This incident does not represent who I am as a person and I will be determined to win back the trust of everyone I have disappointed because of my intolerable actions.”
This is Ducklo’s first public statement on the matter.
In a statement, press secretary Jen Psaki confirmed the resignation on Saturday, saying she had an argument with Ducklo on Saturday night. White House chief of staff Ron Klain supported the conversation, she added.
“We are committed to striving every day to meet the standard set by the President in treating others with dignity and respect, with civility and with value for others through our words and actions,” said Psaki.
A White House official told CBS News that Biden is aware of the situation and supports Ducklo’s decision to resign.
Ducklo and McCammond’s relationship surfaced earlier this week in a report for People Magazine, weeks after January 20, when Palmeri asked McCammond to comment. A colleague held out his hand to Ducklo.
Sometime that day, Ducklo angrily called Palmeri, according to Vanity Fair, saying he would destroy her reputation and accusing her of writing the story out of jealousy because another man “wanted to fuck” McCammond, not her.
McCammond and Palmeri never interacted before the story attempt, which Palmeri had been tasked with covering and did not pursue independently, Vanity Fair reported.
Ducklo has been part of Biden’s team since his most recent campaign for the White House. In December 2019, Ducklo announced he had been diagnosed with metastatic lung cancer.
Arden Farhi and Bo Erickson contributed reporting.