White House deputy press secretary TJ Ducklo resigned on Saturday, a day after being suspended without pay for harassing and threatening a Politico reporter earlier this year.
“No words can express my regret, my embarrassment and my disgust for my behavior,” he said in a statement posted on Twitter. “I used language that no woman should hear from anyone, especially in a situation where she was just trying to do her job.”
He said the language he used was “disgusting, disrespectful and unacceptable”.
Ducklo added that his decision to resign came after a meeting with the White House communications leadership.
“I know it was terrible. I know I can’t go back,” said Ducklo in his statement.
In a separate statement, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the government is “committed to working every day to meet the standard set by the president for treating others with dignity and respect, with civility and with value for the others through our words and our actions. “
Psaki announced Ducklo’s suspension on Friday after an article appeared on Vanity Fair alleging that Ducklo had threatened a journalist in January when he learned that Politico was chasing a story about his relationship with Axios reporter Alexi McCammond.
According to Vanity Fair, Ducklo called Politico reporter Tara Palmeri and made “derogatory and misogynistic comments” and threatened to “destroy her”.
A day later, Politico’s Playbook’s morning bulletin mentioned Ducklo’s attacks.
“Serious question in our minds this morning: does this pattern apply to how mid-level press officers treat reporters?”, Wrote the authors, referring to President Joe Biden’s commitment to eradicate incivility among his employees.
Ducklo is a former member of the NBC News communications team and McCammond is a contributor to NBC News and MSNBC.
Biden, during a virtual oath of new appointees on the first day of his term, said he would implement a zero tolerance rule for this type of behavior, a common occurrence during previous management.
“I am not kidding when I say this: if you are working with me and I hear that you treat another colleague with disrespect, talk to someone, I promise I will fire you on the spot. No ifs, ands or buts, ”said Biden.
But on Friday, after news that Ducklo was suspended for a week without pay, the White House received criticism on social media from people who questioned why the Biden government seemed to be taking back its word.
Psaki acknowledged on Friday that he knew about the incident involving Ducklo and Palmeri for weeks, but dealt with it “privately”.
“TJ Ducklo apologized to the reporter, with whom he had a heated conversation about his personal life. He is the first to recognize that this is not the pattern of behavior set by the president,” said Psaki in a statement. tweet. “In addition to his initial apology, he sent the reporter a personal note expressing his deepest regret.”