Ex-White House press aide TJ Ducklo joins Biden’s re-election campaign

Former White House deputy press secretary TJ Ducklo –who resigned two years ago after threatening to “destroy” a reporter — is joining President Biden’s 2024 re-election campaign as a senior communications adviser.

Ducklo, currently the chief communications officer for Nashville Mayor John Cooper, will leave that post at the end of June and start working for the Biden campaign in mid-July, the Tennessee Lookout reported on Friday. 

Ducklo resigned in disgrace from his White House position in February of 2021 after threatening former Politico reporter Tara Palmeri for investigating his relationship with another journalist. 

In a heated phone call with Palmeri, Ducklo reportedly told her “I will destroy you” and he accused her of being “jealous” of his relationship with Axios reporter Alexi McCammond.

Ducklo was initially slapped with a one-week suspension from his White House duties before he submitted his resignation. 

On his first day in office, Biden vowed to fire any member of his staff who treats anyone else disrespectfully “on the spot.” 

“I’m not joking when I say this: If you’re ever working with me and I hear you treat another colleague with disrespect or talk down to someone, I promise you, I will fire you on the spot — on the spot. No ifs ands or buts,” Biden told the staffers as he swore them in on Jan. 20, 2021. 

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

Last month, Palmeri reflected on the incident and explained that she “never wanted Ducklo to be fired from the White House.” 

“I always thought that it could have been resolved if Ducklo and I had sat down together and a real apology was exchanged,” she explained.

“Instead, Ducklo sent me a two-line email apology and Biden’s top advisor Anita Dunn called my editor to argue that I broke our ‘off the record’ agreement by outlining the incident in an internal memo at the time,” said Palmeri.  

“There are some people who deserve to be canceled, but TJ Ducklo is not one of them,” she added.