Biden Should Have Fulfilled His Promise And Fired Ducklo ‘On The Spot’ After He Reportedly Sexually Harassed Reporter

“If you’re 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, on the spot. No if, ands, or buts. Everybody — everybody is entitled to be treated with decency and dignity,” President Biden announced just a few weeks ago.

Turns out, that promise was worthless.

On Friday, the White House announced that it was only suspending Deputy Press Secretary TJ Ducklo “after a report surfaced alleging that he sexually harassed and threatened a female reporter who was getting ready to publish a report revealing that he was dating a reporter who had previously been tasked with covering Democrat Joe Biden.”

On Saturday, Ducklo submitted his resignation, saying in a statement, “No words can express my regret, my embarrassment, and my disgust for my behavior. I used language that no women should ever have to hear from anyone, especially in a situation where she was just trying to do her job. It was language that was abhorrent, disrespectful, and unacceptable.”

During an off-the-record call between Politico reporter Tara Palmeri and Ducklo, which occurred after Palmeri contacted Axios political reporter Alexi McCammond for comment, “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***’ McCammond ‘and not you.’” 

“Ducklo also accused Palmeri of being ‘jealous’ of his relationship with McCammond,” the report from Vanity Fair added.

In initial response to the reports, White House press secretary Jen Psaki wrote that Ducklo had apologized, that the conversation was “heated,” and that Ducklo “is the first to acknowledge this is not the standard of behavior set out by the President.”

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.

— Jen Psaki (@PressSec) February 12, 2021

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

— Jen Psaki (@PressSec) February 12, 2021

Announcing Ducklo’s resignation, Psaki repeated that “We are committed to striving every day to set the standard set by the president in treating others with dignity and respect,” despite reportedly knowing about Ducklo’s alleged actions on January 21.

Psaki, along with senior aide Anita Dunn, was made aware of Ducklo’s sexist tirade on Jan. 21. Only after the Vanity Fair story on Feb 12 did Psaki/the administration act because they had to. Without the VF story, nothing happens here. This accountably statement is laughable.

— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) February 14, 2021

If Biden’s promises of swift action in defense of dignity meant anything, Ducklo would have been immediately terminated long before his suspension or resignation. Given that Psaki indicated that Ducklo had acknowledged the accuracy of the reports, even apologizing to the reporter, by Biden’s own “standards,” it is clear that he should have been fired “on the spot.”

Unfortunately, we don’t live in such an ideal world. We live in a world where accusations of sexual harassment are inconsistently condemned or dismissed based on the political affiliation of the reportedly guilty party. Ducklo is a Democrat, and so after ignoring the accusations for weeks, his subsequent punishment was a short vacation. If Ducklo was the Deputy Secretary to, say, Kayleigh McEnany, the Democrats would have demanded something quite different.

Given that Ducklo’s reported actions fell into the category of Biden’s “ifs, ands, or buts,” we have evidence of something that the pessimistic and cynical among us already knew: Biden’s promises are empty and meaningless.

Isn’t life easy when you’re a Democrat?

Ian Haworth is an Editor and Writer for The Daily Wire. Follow him on Twitter at @ighaworth.

The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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