Biden Aide Suspended For Threatening Reporter

TJ Ducklo

The White House said on Friday it temporarily suspended a press aide after he reportedly threatened a reporter who was working on a story about his romantic relationship with another journalist, reports Reuters.

Vanity Fair reported on Friday that White House deputy press secretary TJ Ducklo had made threats - including “I will destroy you” - to a Politico correspondent who was reporting a piece about Ducklo’s recently disclosed relationship with an Axios reporter, Alexi McCammond.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki wrote on Twitter that Ducklo had been suspended for a week without pay and will not work with Politico reporters again.

Psaki said Ducklo had apologized to the Politico reporter, Tara Palmeri, “with whom he had a heated conversation about his personal life. ... He is the first to acknowledge this is not the standard of behavior set out by the President.”

An Axios spokeswoman said McCammond disclosed the relationship to her editors in November and was reassigned from a beat covering the White House.

The suspension comes after Democratic President Joe Biden, who took office last month, vowed to take a hard line on any incivility among members of his administration.

TJ Ducklo has apologized to the reporter, with whom he had a heated conversation about his personal life. He is the first to acknowledge this is not the standard of behavior set out by the President.

— Jen Psaki (@PressSec) February 12, 2021

Psaki told reporters during a briefing on Friday that Biden was not involved in the decision to suspend Ducklo and stressed that the White House took the matter seriously.

Ducklo’s behavior was “completely unacceptable. He knows that,” Psaki said. “We’ve had conversations with him. ... This will never happen again.”