White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Friday (local time) announced that one of her deputies TJ Ducklo has been suspended for one week without pay for allegedly threatening a reporter who was working on a story about his romantic relationship with another reporter.
CNN cited a magazine report that said that Ducklo had threatened a Politico reporter over the story, vowing he would "destroy her" if she published the report.
Apart from making misogynistic comments on the reporter, the magazine reported that Ducklo referenced reporter's own personal life, accusing her at one point of being "jealous" about his relationship with a reporter of another company.
Psaki said in a statement that Ducklo had apologized to the reporter over what Psaki described as 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 said, while adding that Ducklo will no longer be assigned to work with any reporters from Politico after his suspension ends.
Meanwhile, two Politico staffers told CNN that reporters inside the outlet were outraged at Psaki's response to the situation.
"It feels like she is punishing us more than him," one of the staffers said, noting that her solution is for the reporters of the company to lose access to one of the highest-ranking officials in the White House communications department.
( With inputs from ANI )
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