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Report: Biden Aide T.J. Ducklo Threatened to ‘Destroy’ Politico Reporter for Story on His Relationship With Axios Journalist




T.J. Ducklo, President Joe Biden’s deputy press secretary, is accused of threatening Politico reporter Tara Palmeri for working on a story regarding his relationship with Axios journalist Alexi McCammond, according to a Friday report.

Vanity Fair reports:

The confrontation began on Inauguration Day, January 20, after Palmeri, a coauthor of Politico’s Playbook, contacted McCammond for comment while one of her male colleagues left a message for Ducklo, according to sources. […] But instead of calling the male reporter who initially contacted him, Ducklo tried to intimidate Palmeri by phone in an effort to kill the story. “I will destroy you,” Ducklo told her, according to sources, adding that he would ruin her reputation if she published it.

During the off-the-record call, Ducklo made derogatory and misogynistic comments, accusing Palmeri of only reporting on his relationship—which, due to the ethics questions that factor into the relationship between a journalist and White House official, falls under the purview of her reporting beat—because she was “jealous” that an unidentified man in the past had “wanted to f-censor” McCammond “and not you.” Ducklo also accused Palmeri of being “jealous” of his relationship with McCammond.

Hours following Vanity Fair‘s report, White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced that Ducklo (pictured) would not be fired and instead be placed on a one-week suspension without pay.

“TJ Ducklo has apologized to the reporter, with whom he had a heated conversation about his personal life. He is the first to acknowledge this is not the standard of behavior set out by the President,” Psaki wrote on Twitter. “In addition to his initial apology, he has sent the reporter a personal note expressing his profound regret.”

“With the approval of the White House Chief of Staff, he has been placed on a one-week suspension without pay,” the White House official added. “In addition, when he returns, he will no longer be assigned to work with any reporters at Politico.”

Ducklo has yet to issue a statement addressing the controversy. Palmeri has remained mum as well.

The White House’s decision to keep Ducklo appears to violate a pledge made by Biden to terminate members of his administration who conduct themselves disrespectfully towards others. In a January 21 video conference, Biden assured staff that his administration will lead with “core American values” and “humility and trust.”

“Everybody is entitled to be treated with decency and dignity,” Biden said. “That’s been missing in a big way the last four years.”

“I am not joking when I say this … if you ever work with me and I hear you treat another colleague with disrespect … talk down to someone, I promise you I will fire you on the spot … on the spot. No ifs, ands, or buts,” the president warned.

At the start of the Biden administration, Psaki told reporters she had a “deep respect for the role of a free and independent press in our democracy.”

“There will be moments when we disagree, and there will certainly be days where we disagree for extensive parts of the briefing even, perhaps,” she stated. “But we have a common goal, which is sharing accurate information with the American people.”


https://www.breitbart.com/the-media/2021...ios-journalist/

Hang Joe Biden.

Oh look ... no surprise. Suddenly no sources doesn't matter again. Party of hypocrites has switched gears. LOLOLOLOL

If true - shame on them. Of course, digging dirt on personal relations for a little salacious tittle tattle doesn't compare to Trump getting briefed on Russians taking out contracts on American soldiers in the field ... but hey. You gotta chit on what you can as Cult of Trump so I get it.

Maggie Haberman
@maggieNYT
·
4h
Imagine the (justifiable) reaction if someone working at the Trump White House had done this

And imagine someone in the Trump WH getting disciplined like that too .... NAHHHH don't be stooooopid. Couldn't imagine that, like, Ever.

New York Post reports:



Psaki stumbles over Ducklo drama after Biden vowed to ‘fire’ aides for harassment

By Lia Eustachewich

February 12, 2021





White House press secretary Jen Psaki waffled Friday when grilled on TJ Ducklo’s one-week suspension for threatening a journalist — even though President Biden has vowed to fire his aides “on the spot” for harassment.

Psaki said the remarks from Ducklo — who threatened to “destroy” Politico reporter Tara Palmeri for reporting about his personal relationship — were “completely unacceptable” but refused to address why he wasn’t outright fired.

“We felt it was a serious punishment,” Psaki told reporters at a White House press briefing.

Biden’s zero-tolerance promise came as he swore in his appointees on Inauguration Day.

“I am not joking when I say this, if you are ever working with me and I hear you treat another colleague with disrespect … talk down to someone, I promise you I will fire you on the spot,” he said at the time. “On the spot. No ifs, ands or buts. Everybody is entitled to be treated with decency and dignity. That’s been missing in a big way the last four years.”

Ducklo was suspended without pay for a week over his tirade to Palmeri, to whom he’s also apologized. When he returns, he will no longer be assigned to work with Politico reporters.
TJ Ducklo; Jen Psaki
Jen Psaki said the remarks from TJ Ducklo were “completely unacceptable.”
Twitter; Getty Images

Psaki dodged a question about Biden’s remarks on Jan. 20, saying Ducklo’s punishment fits the crime.

“It doesn’t meet our standard, it doesn’t meet the president’s standard,” she said. “It was important that we took a step to make that clear and that included not just an apology directly from him and apologies directly from us at the highest levels there, but also a step to suspend him for one week without pay. That, in our view, was an important step to send the message that we don’t find it acceptable.”

Psaki also said she did not discuss Ducklo’s conduct or punishment with Biden.


https://nypost.com/2021/02/12/jen-psaki-stumbles-when-grilled-over-tj-ducklos-suspension/

Oh my - your lies continue to mount up. smh. I get that you have much hate in your heart, but man ....

You, and a handful of others ought to think about "hate in your heart." Seriously.

No hate in my heart Arch - just a desire to see others post consistently.

I wrote a lot more but it would have been wasted.

That would be a real treat. From everyone.

I'm still trying to imagine what would have happened if Obama had tried to incite an insurrection at the Capital..

Why not talk about that?

That doesn't make any sense.

Impeach Joe.

Resigned/Fired...rightfully, so.

Go away.

Live like your Mom actually raised you.
If you can't, you deserve what comes your way from bad behavior.


I never lost a cush job for being an underwear skidmark, but I certainly paid a few steep fines in other ways. If I ever did lose a cush gig, it would have been nobody's fault but my own.

#zerosympathy


p.s. the swamp just got drained by one drip. officially.

j/c -

I can't post this in the place where it belongs because that thread has been prematurely locked. However - as a glaring WHATABOUTISM it's very appropriate.

Biden's WH has an issue - they suspend the individual, then he resigns. Meanwhile Trump unquestionably sets the wheels in motion and orchestrates the attack on the capitol building, and the Trump of Cult are giddy that Trump got impeached and 57-43 voted to hold him accountable but not the necessary 2/3 majority. What a sham. And you don't even need to take my word for it.

“There’s no question, none, that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking” the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Saturday, shortly after the majority of his Republican caucus voted against convicting the former president in his second impeachment trial. “No question about it. The people who stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their president. And having that belief was a foreseeable consequence of the growing crescendo of false statements, conspiracy theories and reckless hyperbole which the defeated president kept shouting into the largest megaphone on planet Earth.”

The @meena problem goes global

By ALEX THOMPSON and THEODORIC MEYER

02/08/2021 06:48 PM EST


Welcome to POLITICO’s 2021 Transition Playbook, your guide to the first 100 days of the Biden administration

This past weekend, Vice President KAMALA HARRIS was all over newspapers across India.

The stories were not about the vice president or her policies, however, but about her niece, MEENA HARRIS, who has waded into India’s internal politics surrounding protests sparked by Prime Minister NARENDRA MODI’s recent agricultural reforms. Her series of posts have helped provoke a backlash from the Indian government and some of its supporters, adding an unexpected wrinkle to India-U.S. relations just as Biden is seeking to engage with the country’s leaders.

“Who Is Dalit Activist Nodeep Kaur Whose Release Meena Harris Is Demanding?,” read one headline in the India Times on Sunday. “The arrest and the alleged torture of Kaur gained attention on Saturday after Meena Harris, the niece of United States Vice President Kamala Harris, tweeted about her,” wrote reporters at Scroll.in.

Meena has seemingly been everywhere in the English-language Indian press in recent days — Times of India, ABP, Hindustan Times, National Herald India, The News Minute, and many more are covering her support for Kaur and the farmers protesting the current government, in a confrontation over agricultural reforms that has been escalating for months. Dozens of protesters have died amid the unrest.

Meena is hardly the only activist weighing in on the protests on social media. And the official position of the State Department is that her postings are immaterial to U.S. policy.

“When it comes to the tweets you referenced, these are private citizens expressing their points of view,” an official told Transition Playbook. “We’ll decline to comment.”

But the Indian press and other news outlets around the globe are taking special note of her comments given her relationship to Vice President Harris — the first Indian-American to rise to such a position of power in American government. When the Indian press cover Meena, they are more likely to identify her as Kamala’s niece rather than as an activist, in her own right.

Meena has been an avid supporter of her aunt’s for years. In turn, she has boosted her own social media clout. Since Election Day, Meena’s following on Twitter has tripled to 671,000. She has more followers than both of Secretary of State TONY BLINKEN’s accounts combined.

And that dynamic is potentially complicating the Biden administration’s efforts to strengthen its relationship with India.

The turbulence began last week when Meena joined activists and artists like GRETA THUNBERG and RIHANNA in declaring solidarity with the recent protests. In an Instagram post on Tuesday that garnered more than 100,000 “likes,” Meena suggested that Modi was one of the world’s “FASCIST DICTATORS” on the rise.

Some in India have celebrated her activism while others denounced it as meddling in the country’s internal affairs. Last Thursday, pro-government protesters burned photographs of Meena, Thunberg and others on the streets of New Delhi.
Protestors burn portraits of Meena Harris, niece of U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, and Greta Thunberg in New Delhi, India, Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021.

Protestors burn portraits of Meena Harris, niece of U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, and Greta Thunberg in New Delhi, India, Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021. | Dinesh Joshi/AP Photo

On Wednesday, India’s Ministry of External Affairs released a pointed statement condemning “sensationalist social media hashtags and comments, especially when resorted to by celebrities and others.”"

Asked about Meena specifically, an Indian embassy spokesperson in Washington did not respond.

Despite the activist outcry from Meena and others, the Biden State Department did not express objection to the Modi government’s reforms that have sparked the protests. “In general, the United States welcomes steps that would improve the efficiency of India's markets and attract greater private sector investment,” the official said. They declined to elaborate further.

The State Department did, however, implicitly criticize the Indian government’s shutdown of the internet in protest areas, saying access to the internet “is fundamental to the freedom of expression.”

The Biden administration has made a strong relationship with India a key part of its plans to confront China and address global warming. “I think there are many ways in which we can deepen that cooperation to pursue the path that successive administrations have put us on,” Blinken said of India in his confirmation hearing.

President JOE BIDEN also spoke with Modi today, according to the White House. Asked if Meena was discussed, the WH did not respond. Kamala’s office also declined to comment and Meena did not respond to emails seeking comment.

But Meena has publicly signaled she will continue her activism. As she tweeted last week and pinned to the top of her timeline: “I won’t be intimidated, and I won’t be silenced.

https://www.politico.com/newsletters/tra...s-global-491684



'Don't Tell Me To Stay Out Of Your Affairs': Meena Harris On Farm Stir In India

https://thelogicalindian.com/trending/meena-harris-tweets-farmers-protest-26691?infinitescroll=1

Ya'll-Qaeda

The Politico White House Correspondent?

You do understand that you dismiss a sitting president who incited an attempted overthrow of our government while trying to claim this is some important issue, right? Even McConnell knows Trump is guilty as sin.



So you, as a Trump supporter who wouldn't even call out Putin for putting a bounty on the heads of American troops, suddenly see this as some issue? What exactly is your issue with this again? That we're not trying to interfere with the government of another Continent?

Meanwhile you support Ya'll Qaeda.

Nope, just quoted what a White House Correspondent reported. What's with you libs and the letter Q?

Both are terrorist organizations. The fact you are in denial isn't my problem. As I asked before, exactly what was the point in the article you posted? What is it you find such a problem there?

And in what way is it a scandal?

I mean we just had Moscow Mitch confirm the last POTUS was responsible for inciting a riot at the Capitol Building and you don't care ... so for something to be labelled as a "scandal" it's got to beat that threshold at the bear minimum.

Instead we have a staffer resigning because of improper behavior and someone's sister in a far away country being an activist.

I mean we all expect hypocritical behavior but this is some bat poop crazy stuff you be complaining about.

I've asked him the same question but so far nothing but crickets. This is what happens when people ignore important things and try to focus on trivial matters.

i have a problem with the Admin not firing homeboy out the gate.

Vanilla Isis is my current fave.

agreed.

Maybe not a scandal, but trouble for this administration.

This board crucified Donald Trump for four years with negative threads and posts submitted daily. Three weeks into Biden's presidency and any negative postings brings out the name-calling brigade...



Meena Harris creates a headache for Biden with rogue social media diplomacy


by Katherine Doyle, White House Correspondent

Feb 10, 2021

President Biden's foreign policy goals could be complicated by the social media diplomacy of Vice President Kamala Harris's 36-year-old niece.

Meena Harris has been outspoken about relations with India. The Indian press has covered Harris's activism in detail, including her call for the release of a political activist, Nodeep Kaur, and her support for the Indian farmers locked in a bloody confrontation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government over agricultural reforms.

A tweet shared by Harris on Monday called Modi's government "a dictatorship" and said he "is endangering the worlds largest democracy."

In a post on Instagram, where Harris has close to 1 million followers, she wrote last week that “FASCIST DICTATORS” were on the rise, suggesting this was the case in India.


Her public comments could complicate U.S. efforts to strengthen ties with India, as Biden pledged to Modi.

One former U.S. diplomat said Harris's activism "will seriously complicate our diplomacy with Delhi."

"It’s inappropriate," said Brett Bruen, the Obama White House's global engagement director.

Confusing matters, the U.S. government has signaled support for Modi's reforms.

"In general, the United States welcomes steps that would improve the efficiency of India's markets and attract greater private sector investment," a State Department official said.

The agency declined to comment on Harris specifically, however, maintaining that her comments are not relevant to U.S. policy.

Bruen said Harris's activism could also pose a security risk.

"Family members weighing in on foreign policy has always been a big no-no," he said, adding it could turn the person into a target for foreign influence operations.

"It creates the impression that they can exert undue influence on the process and also opens up major vulnerabilities for our national security as countries and groups will target them to try and advance their particular policy goals," he added.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Harris, who is of Indian descent and a close relative of the vice president, has drawn unusual attention for her efforts.

A recent tweet shows a counterprotester holding a picture of her face alight in flames.

Biden vowed "close cooperation" in a phone call with Modi on Monday. A readout of the call did not mention the farmers' protests but included a discussion of regional security issues centered around China.

"A shared commitment to democratic values is the bedrock for the U.S.-India relationship," the White House said in a statement about the call.

And one day later, in order "to reaffirm the strength of the U.S.-India partnership," Biden's Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke to India's external affairs minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.

The administration has sought to tamp down speculation about family members profiting off of their ties to the country's highest officeholders.

Biden's son Hunter has come under fire, including for a newly announced book, as have Biden's brothers and his son-in-law, a medical entrepreneur.

Meena Harris has drawn scrutiny over her business and social media activity.

Her company, Phenomenal, sells and markets products that make apparent reference to her most famous family member, and she has published two bestselling books, including one named after her mother Maya and aunt Kamala.

A product collaboration with Beats by Dre gifted to celebrities ahead of the inauguration included a pair of headphones that read "The First But Not The Last" in a nod to the now-vice president.

Though not for sale, these drew attention from Biden transition lawyers, who notified Harris that she could not profit off of her aunt's image, Axios reported at the time.

Harris flew to the presidential inauguration on a private plane owned by a campaign donor, the White House confirmed to Politico.

The White House has sought to rebut criticism of influence-peddling around Biden's own family, issuing ethics guidance and stating last week that Hunter Biden "has been working to unwind his investment" in a Chinese firm.

But curtailing Harris's political activism may prove more difficult since her speech is a First Amendment right.

"I won’t be intimidated, and I won’t be silenced," she tweeted last week.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/meena-harris-twitter-political-activism

I'm about as left as you get on this board bro, and I seriously never heard of Meena until you posted these. I know the right is scraping the bottom of the barrell for dirt on the Biden admin, but apparently y'all haven't learned a damn thing... just impeach him so we can laugh and tell you how he is not guilty. Biden could chop heads off on the white house lawn and I wouldn't let him be removed because of how the GOP protected Trump.

I hope Biden sends special forces death squads out to kill Trump's rabble militia army by the thousands so we can exonerate a traitor too.

There is no "problem" for Biden in any of this. See, there is a difference in some never heard of social media poster in India saying things and the president saying things. Trump called everyone names who didn't agree with him, called the media and the opposing party the enemy of the people.

He even convinced you and people like yourself that anything the media told you that disagreed with him was fake news while the part of the media he agreed with fed you full of lies.

You're hilarious right now.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/13/media/tj-ducklo-resigns/index.html

For those who'd prefer the story from a legit news source.

Just watching the news and seen a story that Biden has ordered the processing of 25,000 immigrants waiting in Mexico since the Trump administration... hope he sends a few million to each red state.

Let’s look at the first item...

The guy started a relationship with a reporter, another reporter figured it out. He went ballistic when he learned that it was going to make the news.

It is not the first time or last time that this has happen, and the rough equivalent is Don JR dating the ex Fox reporter.

The second one is even more obscure, a niece of Kamala in India. That does not hit home, but I may have to grab some Billy (Carter) Beer to think about it.

Ahh, I guess you are right about that,,Obama would never do such an unamerican thing...


I mean, Even Mitch "the Grimm Reaper" McConnell thinks that Trump is guilty....

... but voted to acquit...

You want them, you take them. If I was governor, I would refuse to take them.

Have you seen these people. None are wearing masks on this exodus, yet the Grand Poopa of mask wearing is bringing them in.

Moron

Didn't you help elect the last moron? Bleach anyone!?

That has nothing to do with the topic. Stay on point.

You're the one who brought up a president being a moron. I can however see why that would be a topic you would wish to avoid.

Right