White House Deputy Press Secretary TJ Ducklo listens to press secretary Jen Psaki’s speech during a press conference at the White House on Tuesday, February 9, 2021, in Washington.
Patrick Semansky | AP
White House deputy press secretary to President Joe Biden was suspended for a week without pay after allegedly threatening a reporter.
TJ Ducklo, who was also the chief spokesman for Biden’s campaign, was put on leave for seven days after a Vanity Fair story detailing a controversial conversation he had with a reporter. During that conversation, Ducklo would have said, “I will destroy you.”
According to the Vanity Fair story, White House officials were aware of Ducklo’s conversation with the reporter in January. The suspension comes hours after the Vanity Fair story was published on Friday.
The reporter Ducklo threatened was investigating Ducklo’s relationship with an Axios reporter who had covered Biden.
Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said in a series of tweets on Friday that Ducklo has been suspended and that he can no longer speak to reporters at the Politico.
Ducklo’s suspension comes weeks after Biden himself told a group of government nominees that he would fire anyone who treated another colleague with disrespect.
“I’m not kidding when I say this: if you work with me and I hear you treat another colleague with disrespect, talk to someone, I will fire you on the spot. No ifs, ands or buts,” said Biden last month.
Ducklo would have made disparaging and misogynistic comments to the Politico reporter, who is a woman.
Ducklo, who did not respond to CNBC’s request for comment, was previously an NBC employee.