White House press secretary Jen Psaki defended the White House’s delay in its decision to suspend without pay a communications official who reportedly threatened a reporter.
During a press briefing on Friday, Psaki acknowledged that the White House waited to suspend TJ Ducklo until after an article revealed the conversation between him and Tara Palmeri, the Politico reporter and Politico Playbook co-author whom Ducklo allegedly threatened. Psaki said the matter was originally discussed with Politico privately.
“There were conversations that occurred with the reporter, as well as editors at Politico, immediately after the conversation occurred,” she said. “That was how we engaged in a private manner, and that was what we felt was appropriate at the time.”
When asked whether President Biden was involved in the matter, Psaki responded, “No, I have not discussed it with the president. It was a decision I made with the approval of the chief of staff.”
Vanity Fair reported on Friday that on Inauguration Day, Palmeri contacted Axios political reporter Alexi McCammond to ask for comment about her reported relationship with Ducklo, and a male Politico reporter reached out to Ducklo. Ducklo then raised objections to the story to a Politico Playbook editor, who redirected him to the reporters writing the story, according to the Conde Nast publication. It was then that Ducklo is said to have threatened Palmeri, not the reporter who called him.
“I will destroy you,” Ducklo allegedly said during an off-the-record discussion, warning Palmeri that he would ruin her reputation if she revealed the information.
The next day, Politico reportedly reached out to the White House to discuss the matter, which Vanity Fair added led to White House officials accusing Palmeri of breaking the off-the-record agreement.
Politico argued that Palmeri was treated inappropriately while pursuing the story.
“We raised our concerns about the incident directly with the White House at the time,” Editor-in-Chief Matt Kaminski and Editor Carrie Budoff Brown said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “No journalist at POLITICO — or any other publication or network — should ever be subjected to such unfounded personal attacks while doing their job. POLITICO reporters and editors are committed to forging a professional and transparent relationship with public office holders and their staff and expect the same in return.”
Psaki announced the suspension in a Twitter thread Friday afternoon, prior to the briefing.
“TJ Ducklo has apologized to the reporter, with whom he had a heated conversation about his personal life,” Psaki said. “He is the first to acknowledge this is not the standard of behavior set out by the President.”
Psaki added that Ducklo sent the reporter “a personal note expressing his profound regret” and that Ducklo would no longer work with any reporters from Politico after returning from his one-week suspension. The press secretary then reiterated those points when pressed on the matter by reporters at the briefing.
Biden previously emphasized how seriously he took claims of irreverence from his employees.
“If you’re ever working with me and I hear you treat another colleague with disrespect, talk down to someone, I promise you I will fire you on the spot, on the spot, no ‘ifs,’ ‘ands,’ or ‘buts,'” he said after the inauguration while partaking in a virtual swearing-in ceremony for administration members. “Everybody, everybody is entitled to be treated with decency and dignity.”
When asked about Biden’s comment in light of the recent incident, Psaki reiterated the terms of Ducklo’s suspension.
“As I’ve said, Josh, it doesn’t meet our standard. It doesn’t meet the president’s standard, and it was important that we took a step to make that clear. And that included not just an apology directly from him and apologies directly from us at the highest levels there but also a step to suspend him for one week without pay,” she said. “And that, in our view, was an important step to send the message that we don’t find it acceptable.”
