The White House on Friday suspended a press officer who reportedly threatened to “destroy” a reporter working on a story about his relationship with another journalist.
Deputy press secretary TJ Ducklo was suspended for a week, unpaid, after Vanity Fair said he told Tara Palmeri of Politico that he would “destroy” her by writing about her relationship with Axios reporter Alexi McCammond.
Vanity Fair reported on Friday that in a conversation with Palmeri, who previously covered the White House as an ABC News correspondent, Ducklo “made disparaging and misogynistic comments” – including accusing her of being “jealous” of their relationship. “I will destroy you,” he told Palmeri, according to the magazine, which cited anonymous sources.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced Ducklo’s suspension on Friday after the Vanity Fair article was published, and called Ducklo’s behavior “completely unacceptable”.
During a press conference on Friday, Psaki did not contest any of the allegations reported by the magazine, nor did he when he was later asked about them by ABC News. She told reporters that White House communications director Kate Bedingfield had apologized to a Politico editor “immediately after” Ducklo and Palmeri’s conversation.
Palmeri declined to comment. Politico’s editor in chief, Matt Kaminski, and publisher Carrie Budoff Brown said in a statement that “they raised our concerns about the incident directly with the White House at the time.”
“No journalist from Politico – or any other publication or network – should be subjected to such unfounded personal attacks while doing his job,” they said. “Politico’s reporters and editors are committed to establishing a professional and transparent relationship with public office holders and their employees and expect the same in return.”
Politico wrote Tuesday morning about Ducklo dating McCammond and how his employer, Axios, handled the ethically thorny relationship.
The article followed a flattering article about the relationship published the night before by People with the title, “Reporter waives to cover the president like romance flowers with biden’s assistant battling cancer.” Ducklo has been receiving treatment for lung cancer and several of his White House colleagues shared the story on Twitter.
On his first day in office, President Joe Biden set a high standard for his employees by swearing them.
“I’m not kidding when I say that,” said Biden. “If you’re working with me and I hear you treat another colleague with disrespect, talk to someone, I promise I’ll fire you on the spot – on the spot. No ifs, ands or buts. Everyone – everyone – has a right to be treated decently. and dignity. “
Psaki told reporters that he made the decision to punish Ducklo – with the approval of the White House chief of staff, Ron Klain – and that he had not discussed the matter with Biden. She called it a “significant step”, saying, “I take this very seriously.”
Ducklo, whose duties include answering questions from reporters at COVID-19, health and politics, apologized to Palmeri “shortly after the comments were made” and again in writing, “said Psaki. She said he would not be assigned to work with Politico reporters again.
“He had a heated conversation about a story related to his personal life,” said Psaki. “I am not saying that it is acceptable, but I just want to make it clear that it is not an issue related to the White House or a White House policy, or anything like that. He is the first to recognize that it is not the standard of behavior set by the president, nor the pattern of behavior set by me, and I am his direct supervisor. “
A reporter told Psaki that the White House had known about the interaction for weeks, but only suspended Ducklo after Vanity Fair reported on it. She said the reporter was “right”, but noted that the White House believed it was “appropriate at the time” to become privately involved with the Politician “immediately after the conversation took place”.
Asked how the week-long suspension behaved with the threat of Biden’s first day, Psaki just said that Ducklo’s behavior “does not meet the president’s standards.”
“It was important that we take a step to make that clear,” she said. “And that included not only an apology directly from him, and apologies directly from us at the highest levels there, but also a measure to suspend him for a week without pay. And that, in our opinion, was an important step for send the message that we don’t think is acceptable. “