White House suspends deputy press secretary TJ Ducklo for threatening reporter

[groundloop]

Source: CNN

The White House on Friday suspended a press aide 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 one week, without pay, after Vanity Fair reported he told Politico's Tara Palmeri that he would "destroy" her for writing about his relationship with Axios reporter Alexi McCammond.

Vanity Fair reported Friday that in a conversation with Palmeri, who previously covered the White House as a correspondent for ABC News, Ducklo had "made derogatory and misogynistic comments" -- including accusing her of being "jealous" of his 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 piece was published, and called Ducklo's behavior "completely unacceptable."

Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/white-house-suspends-deputy-press-secretary-tj-ducklo/story?id=75856334&cid=clicksource_4380645_3_heads_hero_live_headlines_hed

[KarenS]

1. This administration means business,,,,

they are so refreshing.

[soothsayer]

2. I'm glad. That was unacceptable

[Massacure]

3. Biden should have followed through on his day one promise and fired Ducklo

Biden promised to fire on the spot anybody who talked down to or disrespected another person. It seems this conduct is befitting that punishment.

[thucythucy]

5. That may be next.

They might want to be sure the story is absolutely confirmed.

[JI7]

10. He was referring to others that work for him not reporters

[Fla Dem]

13. Duckio does work for Biden. He's a Deputy Press Secretary.

Should have been fired.

[JI7]

14. He was referring to bad treatment of others that work for him (Biden) . THe reporters don't work for

Biden .

[moriah]

27. Again, Deputy Press Secretaries work for the WH.

(No, I'm not the person you were responding to, just seems like you might not have read their message clearly.)

A WH employee telling any reporter "I will destroy you" is worthy of far more punishment than a week's suspension without pay.

Now, I don't know who Biden promised to fire -- WH/Admin people who treated internal employees badly, or WH/Admin people who treated outside parties to the WH badly. And while it's nice to promise that, whichever targets he was referring to, I honestly don't care whether he made a promise to do it or not.

There are better ways to say "My boss knows everything, her boss knows everything, this will be a yawn story" than to threaten to "destroy" someone -- therefore actually turning it into a non-yawn story.

[ShepKat]

22. totally agree

no second chances on trumplydite behavior

[COL Mustard]

23. I Agree. Words Matter

And President Biden did set a high bar for disrespectful or otherwise unacceptable conduct. He needs to follow through. Other people will get the message.

[Rebl2]

25. Yes

he should be fired.

[sheshe2]

4. Good.

Immediate response.

Clean house.

[mr_lebowski]

6. It appears that dick-wagging is not going to be tolerated in Biden's administration

Assuming the story is true, I expect the suspension to lead to a firing.

If it's not, however ... I expect the man to be re-instated, with an apology.

Let's have facts and reality be the guiding forces ... after 4 years of freaking bullshit.

We could all use it.

[JohnnyRingo]

7. Oops! That was the old way.

Ridin' with Biden now.

[Miguelito Loveless]

8. Suspension is not enough

He needs to be fired.

[JI7]

9. He is dying of Cancer . I wonder if that could have affected him lashing out

Politico still sucks . THey are more about gossip than anything else.

[bronxiteforever]

21. +100 Absolutely. His chemo probably includes steroids

given the fact that he has stage four lung cancer. Steroids are frequently used as a supportive medication in cancer care and can create mood swings where a person becomes more anxious and emotional than usual when taking steroids.
And Politico still sucks!

[COL Mustard]

24. I Did Not Realize That. He's Far Too Young For Something Like That

I'm twice his age, and I've learned some hard truths in the intervening years. But if he's that sick and is on chemo and possibly steroids, why is he in such a high-stress job? I would be on the beach someplace enjoying my remaining time as best I could.

My sincere best wishes for his recovery from this awful disease. But he still needs to face consequences for his conduct.

[csziggy]

26. He may have no choice but to keep working

When my brother in law was diagnosed with stage iv pancreatic cancer, he would have loved to have taken the rest of his life to spend more time with his children. But he had to keep working to keep his health insurance. If he took one day off that was not covered by sick leave and earned vacation time, he would have been fired and had no health insurance.

He worked ten hour days four days a week and arranged his chemo treatments for Fridays so his worst days were on weekends - which of course cut into time spent with his family. He worked up until two weeks before he died. He got one more week of functioning life, then collapsed, spent a week in hospice care and passed away.

The "happiest place on earth" didn't care enough about one of their people who had worked there for fifteen years to let him have more time with his family in his last year of life.

[HipChick]

11. Alexi McCammond is black...

Wonder what reporter's angle was

[JI7]

12. Especially since it's politico

[oldsoftie]

20. Which means absolutely nothing.

If the 2nd couple is a mixed race relationship, the races of those involved certainly isnt a ground breaking story.
Its a reporter doing what reporters are supposed to do; expose the news. A WH member of the Press office having a relationship with a REPORTER is certainly news.

[still_one]

15. I suspect they want to confirm exactly what happened if they do decide to fire him.

The fact that he has stage 4 cancer and is going through treatment I suspect they also want to make sure there are not extenuating circumstances it they decide to let him go such as treatment affecting his behavior


https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tj-ducklo-cancer-joe-bidens-press-secretary-diagnosed-with-metastatic-lung-cancer-2019-12-21/

[OhioTim]

17. Losing His Health Insurance

at this time would be devastating (if he is using govt insurance). If the story is as it seems, a personal apology would seem to be OK given the circumstances.

[TomDaisy]

16. the media never went after Pompeo like this for screaming at women reporters

[DeminPennswoods]

18. A little more background

https://news.yahoo.com/reporter-gives-covering-biden-relationship-194500127.html

Both McCammond and Ducklo told their respective bosses about their relationship. They've been upfront about it from the beginning it seems. She was taken off the WH beat covering Biden and moved to covering VP Harris by Axios as a result. His cancer diagnosis was the reason their relationship got more serious more quickly. Who knows, maybe Ducklo just felt his relationship and cancer weren't anyone's business?

[Maxheader]

19. Tsk tsk...Gonna play in the big leagues...

You have to grease yo hair and let shit slide off...