ZCZC
BFF-07
US-POLITICS-MEDIA-BIDEN
Biden aide resigns over ‘abhorrent’ comments to reporter
WASHINGTON, Feb 14, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – The White House said Saturday it has
accepted the resignation of a staffer who allegedly threatened to “destroy” a
reporter who was asking about his personal life.
White House Deputy Spokesman TJ Ducklo was originally suspended for one
week without pay, but now the administration of President Joe Biden has
accepted his resignation, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in a
statement.
According to Vanity Fair magazine, Ducklo called Politico reporter Tara
Palmeri after she began asking questions about his months-old personal
relationship with a reporter from Politico rival Axios, Alexi McCammond.
“I will destroy you,” Ducklo allegedly said to Palmeri in a phone call
shortly after Biden’s January 20 presidential inauguration.
According to Vanity Fair, Ducklo “made derogatory and misogynistic
comments” to Palmeri and called her “jealous.”
Psaki said the White House accepted Ducklo’s resignation after speaking
with him Saturday evening and is acting with the support of the White House
chief of staff.
“We are committed to striving every day to meet the standard set by the
President in treating others with dignity and respect, with civility and with
a value for others through our words and our actions,” Psaki’s statement
said.
As the story broke Friday, Psaki said Ducklo apologized to the reporter
“with whom he had a heated conversation about his personal life.”
Ducklo, who was national press secretary for Biden’s 2020 election
campaign, issued a statement on Twitter addressing his “intolerable actions.”
“No words can express my regret, my embarrassment, and my disgust for my
behavior. I used language that no woman should ever have to hear from anyone,
especially in a situation where she was just trying to do her job,” he said.
“It was language that was abhorrent, disrespectful and unacceptable.”
Ducklo added that he was “devastated to have embarrassed and disappointed
my White House colleagues and President Biden.”
Politico Playbook, the Washington politics tips and gossip newsletter that
Palmeri reports for, wrote this week that McCammond made it public in
November that she was dating Ducklo.
A day after being sworn in as president, Biden warned his White House staff
against mistreating others.
“I’m not joking when I say this: if you are ever working with me and I hear
you treat another colleague with disrespect, talk down to someone, I will
fire you on the spot.”
BSS/AFP/MSY/0838 hrs