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As soon as Joe Biden (78) took office as the 46th president of the United States, problems arose on the staff front.
TJ Ducklo, the deputy press spokesman at the White House, was suspended for a week, reports «Vanity Fair». The 32-year-old is said to have messed with a reporter and made derogatory and misogynistic remarks.
Controversial point: love story with a journalist
The background: The “Politico” newspaper wanted to report on the romantic relationship between Ducklo and “Axios” journalist Alexi McCammond. Because the relationship between the White House clerk and the 27-year-old political editor raises the question of whether such a relationship is ethically justifiable in light of the two’s jobs.
On January 20, the day Joe Biden took office, the Politico reporter called Tara Palmeri McCammond for a statement. Palmeri’s male colleague turned to Ducklo with the same question and left him a message.
Ducklo alleges that Palmeri is jealous
Later, Ducklo tried to prevent the story from running. But instead of contacting the reporter who was originally trying to reach him, Ducklo called Palmeri.
In an unofficial phone conversation, Ducklo Palmeri allegedly threatened to “destroy” her and “ruin her reputation” if she published the story. Ducklo also claimed that Palmeri only asked about McCammond out of jealousy because a man in the past wanted to sleep with McCammond instead of her.
“Lost control”
The editorial team of “Politico” later confronted the White House with accusations about Ducklo’s behavior. After several phone calls, the man sent Palmeri an email apologizing for losing his patience. Apparently, however, he did not go into detail and did not explicitly apologize for the threat and misogynistic comments. At the same time, the White House criticized Palmeri for not keeping the conversation confidential to himself.
“Politico” journalists informed the White House last Monday night that the news would appear in Tuesday’s edition. A few hours later, the story appeared in “People” magazine.
Did Biden break his promises?
On Friday, Jen Psaki, 42, the White House press secretary announced Ducklo’s suspension on Twitter. “TJ Ducklo apologized to the reporter with whom he had a heated discussion about his personal life. He is the first to acknowledge that this is not the standard of conduct set by the president. “
If Ducklo returns after a week of unpaid suspension, he will no longer work with Politico.
President Biden announced last month that if he ever found out that a colleague had been disrespected, he would fire any of his appointees immediately, “no buts, no.” This drew criticism that the Democrat had broken his promise.
