White House spokesman TJ Ducklo has been suspended without pay for threatening to “destroy” a Politico journalist for reporting about his relationship.
The New York post on Friday reported White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced the one-week suspension on Friday, saying Ducklo has apologized to the reporter, Tara Palmeri, and “is the first to acknowledge this is not the standard of behavior set out by the President.”
“In addition to his initial apology, he has sent the reporter a personal note expressing his profound regret,” Psaki tweeted.
“With the approval of the White House Chief of Staff, he has been placed on a one-week suspension without pay,” she added. “In addition, when he returns, he will no longer be assigned to work with any reporters at Politico.”
Ducklo allegedly went berserk on Palmeri, a former New York Post reporter, as she worked a story about his secret relationship with Axios reporter Alexi McCammond.
The White House deputy press secretary, 32, called Palmeri, threatening, “I will destroy you” if she went forward with the story — then accused of her being “jealous” that a different man had “wanted to f–k” McCammond “and not you.”
He also accused Palmeri of being “jealous” that he was dating McCammond.
Details of the attack emerged Friday in Vanity Fair, which noted that Palmeri had no prior association or communication with McCammond.
People magazine published a glowing piece about Ducklo’s relationship with McCammond on Monday night — hours after Politico informed the White House communications team that their story would be coming Tuesday.
