By now you’ve no doubt heard that White House spokesman TJ Ducklo reportedly threatened Politico reporter Tara Palmeri for working on a story about his relationship with Axios reporter Alexi McCammond.
News broken by Vanity Fair revealed a nasty exchange in which Ducklo “made derogatory and misogynistic comments” and apparently even accused Palmeri of being “jealous.”
Before Friday’s White House briefing, press secretary Jen Psaki announced on Twitter that Ducklo has been suspended for one week.
But given the nature of Ducklo’s disturbing threats, reporters confronted Psaki over whether a one-week suspension is truly sufficient.
CNN’s Kaitlan Collins was first to bring up the controversy and Ducklo’s reported bullying of a female reporter.
“Whose idea was the one-week suspension instead of a potential resignation or firing? And how can you keep this person in a public-facing press relations role dealing with female reporters when he made such sexist comments to this female reporter reaching out for a request for comment?” Collins asked.
Psaki said she’s taking this “very seriously” and noted Ducklo’s subsequent apology. She continued, “He had a heated conversation about a story related to his personal life. I’m not saying that’s acceptable, but I just want to be clear that it was not about an issue related to the White House or White House policy or anything along those lines.”
She called the one-week suspension a “significant step” and said Ducklo will no longer work with any Politico reporters.
Collins followed up with the obvious point that Ducklo would still be working with female reporters, and noted to Psaki it reportedly went beyond a mere hostile conversation to outright sexist language.
(Excerpt) Read more @ Mediaite