The Current Administration And The Intimidation Of The Press

Vanity Fair had more on the story: 

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 fuck” McCammond “and not you.” Ducklo also accused Palmeri of being “jealous” of his relationship with McCammond. (Palmeri had no prior relationship or communication with McCammond before calling her to report on the Playbook item, which was a story that she was assigned and had not independently pursued.)  

The following day, an editor at Politico reached out to the White House about Ducklo’s threats, spurring multiple conversations between the news outlet and senior-level officials on January 21, including White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield, and Biden senior adviser Anita Dunn. In one of those calls, senior White House officials acknowledged that Ducklo’s handling of the call with Palmeri was inappropriate and said he would send a note to her apologizing for the comments. In another conversation, the same White House officials took aim at Palmeri by accusing her of breaking an off-the-record agreement with Ducklo and pressing Politico as to why the contents of the call had been revealed.

The Washington Examiner had this to say: 

There is simply no ambiguity here. Tara Palmeri (a former Washington Examiner colleague of mine) was pursuing a 100% valid story about Biden's campaign press secretary TJ Ducklo dating a reporter who covered Biden.

Ducklo is now the White House's deputy press secretary. His literal job is to work with reporters. So, when he spoke to Palmeri, he was speaking as an agent of the President of the United States.

So, Biden thinks Ducklo’s vile, misogynistic, indecent, personal attack on Palmeri was just a little bit bad?

And Biden obviously doesn’t actually think Ducklo’s treatment of Palmeri was bad. He thinks the public revelation of this was bad. That’s why the minor punishment of Ducklo didn’t occur when the White House found out about Ducklo’s behavior, but instead when Vanity Fair publicized it.