President Biden warned officials last month that if they were not respectful of others, their jobs would be at risk – but a press officer accused of threatening and making misogynistic comments to a reporter still holds his own.
“If you are working with me and I hear you treat another colleague with disrespect, talk to someone, I promise I will fire you on the spot,” Biden told new advisers during an inauguration ceremony on January 20. “On site.”
“Without if, and or but – everyone, everyone has the right to be treated with decency and dignity,” continued the president. “This has been missing a lot in the past four years.”
OFFERED TO NEW MANAGEMENT EMPLOYEES: BE BEAUTIFUL WITH OTHERS OR ‘I’M GOING TO SIT YOU ON THE SITE’
But White House deputy press secretary TJ Ducklo, who is accused of making “derogatory and misogynistic” comments to Politico reporter Tara Palmeri almost a month ago, was merely suspended without pay for a week and apologized.
“I’m going to destroy it,” Ducklo told Palmeri in an unofficial call that also took place on January 20, according to a Vanity Fair report published on Friday.
The next day, Politico’s Playbook column, which Palmeri helps write, questioned whether Biden’s promise to fire disrespectful advisers applied to “how mid-level press officers treat reporters.”
Both Palmeri and a colleague separately contacted Ducklo last month to inquire about her romantic relationship with Axios reporter Alexi McCammond, a potential conflict of interest since she was covering the White House, Vanity Fair revealed.
On the unofficial call, Ducklo reportedly threatened to attack her reputation if she published the story and uttered profanity and other insults.
Vanity Fair reported that Ducklo accused Palmeri of jealousy and holding a grudge against McCammond.
Palmeri, meanwhile, was assigned to cover the story as part of her job as a DC-based political reporter and never interacted with McCammond until she started working on the article.
A Politico editor contacted the White House after the Ducklo and Palmeri call, and Ducklo apologized, according to Vanity Fair.
That was about three weeks ago.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki, Ducklo’s boss, said President Biden took the allegations “very seriously” on Friday and said Ducklo was being suspended for a week.
Ducklo, who apologized to Palmeri, has been suspended for a week without pay and will no longer work with Politico reporters when he returns – but he remains an assistant press secretary and will continue to interact with women as part of his job.
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CNN’s Kaitlan Collins asked Psaki “whose” suspension was, rather than a resignation at a press conference at the White House on Friday.
“He had a heated conversation about a story related to his personal life,” replied Psaki. “I’m not saying this is acceptable, but I just want to make it clear that this is not an issue related to the White House or White House policy or anything in that regard.”