White House Deputy Press Secretary TJ Ducklo resigned after threatening a female reporter from Politico over a story about him. The story begins with Ducklo and his relationship with Axios reporter Alexi McCammond. McCammond recently covered Joe Biden but gave that role up once she got into the relationship with Ducklo. People magazine and Politico both wanted to break the story of Ducklo and Hammond. People magazine beat Politico to the punch and the reason for that may be more personal than pure happenstance.
This is where the drama begins. Politico reporter Tara Palmeri called Alexi McCammond for comment on the story she was working on that featured TJ Ducklo. Palmeri’s colleague called Ducklo for the same reason and left him a message. Ducklo decided to not call the male colleague back and he called Politico editors instead. The editors referred him back to the reporters. But, again, instead of calling the male reporter and colleague of Palmeri, Ducklo called Palmeri directly. He then threatened her with the now-viral quote “I’ll destroy you” (as in her reputation) along with other things that shouldn’t be repeated.
News of the “off-the-record” conversation quickly spread throughout the White House and Capitol Hill, and then, of course it spread to the media. This scenario resulted in White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki being forced to answer questions about Ducklo. Psaki was also forced to answer questions about Joe Biden who, just a few days ago before the Ducklo story broke, said that anyone in his administration caught mistreating a colleague would get fired on the spot. Psaki was only able to answer the onslaught of media questions by saying Ducklo was suspended for one week without pay. Biden was not aware of any of any punishment toward Ducklo and he probably wasn’t even aware of the initial infraction.
Intense media scrutiny of Ducklo, his direct relationship with a member of the media, and his mistreatment of another member of the media led to his resignation. The resignation was most likely not voluntary considering he was well liked, respected, and had only been on the job for about a month. But the “immediate firing” that Joe Biden promised simply did not happen. As the days and weeks progress in the Biden administration, it appears more and more like Biden is simply laying low in the background while others do the actual leadership work.
SOURCES:
TJ Ducklo resigns after threatening reporter over story about him – CNN
White House Press Aide TJ Ducklo Resigns Over Threats Against Reporter : NPR
White House press aide resigns after threatening POLITICO reporter – POLITICO
Axios’ Alexi McCammond and Biden White House’s TJ Ducklo Talk Relationship | PEOPLE.com
Who is Alexi McCammond? Meet the Axios reporter rumored to be dating Joe Biden’s aide TJ Ducklo | MEAWW
Who is Tara Palmeri? Meet Politico reporter threatened by WH ex-aide TJ Ducklo over story on Alexi McCammond fling | MEAWW
Comments are closed.