Sean Spicer unloads on Politico’s Sam Stein over the ‘open secret’ that an Axios reporter is dating a senior Biden press aide

by Greg P.

Politico’s Sam Stein, without tagging them, called out the White House for feeding People magazine a story on Axios report Alexi McCammond dating deputy press secretary TJ Ducklo instead of just responding to his question on the matter.

Stein tweeted, “Dear press hands: I understand it’s tempting to try and get ahead of a seemingly bad story by feeding it to another outlet that will handle it kindly. It may even seem strategic. But the short term gain you feel will be undone by the longer term damage from the act. Don’t do it.”

Dear press hands: I understand it’s tempting to try and get ahead of a seemingly bad story by feeding it to another outlet that will handle it kindly. It may even seem strategic. But the short term gain you feel will be undone by the longer term damage from the act. Don't do it.

— Sam Stein (@samstein) February 9, 2021

Everyone knew exactly what he was talking about, so why not tag them?

I think this is about the White House giving @people a soft-focus version of a Politico story… https://t.co/pDHnDXvxEd

— Ben Smith (@benyt) February 9, 2021

Anyway, here are the details from Politico this morning where they called the relationship an “open secret”:

OPEN SECRET — Axios has allowed one of its reporters to continue to write about Joe Biden after she disclosed in November that she is dating his transition spokesman and now White House deputy press secretary, TJ DUCKLO.

ALEXI MCCAMMOND shifted in November to covering progressives, but some of her reporting has been more specific to Biden and his administration. One story billed as a scoop reported that Atlanta Mayor KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS turned down Biden’s offer to head the Small Business Administration. Another said GINA MCCARTHY of California was a leading candidate to become Biden’s climate czar.

The White House gave People magazine a “glowing profile” of the couple after contacted by Politico:

POLITICO first contacted the White House in late January with questions about Ducklo and McCammond. On Monday evening, Playbook informed Biden’s comms staff that this item would be published today. Hours later, a glowing profile of McCammond and Ducklo’s relationship was published by People.

This isn’t the first time a reporter has been romantically intertwined with a source involved in his or her coverage area. Newsrooms have different policies to handle those situations. Axios was asked about its policy but did not describe it in its statement.

It’s kind of a big deal:

An @axios reporter, @alexi, who covered the @JoeBiden presidential campaign, has been dating @tducklo46, now the @WhiteHouse deputy press secretary, since November, according to @people. https://t.co/h1n96z00Qo

— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) February 9, 2021

But the White House is brushing off any conflict. Here’s deputy communications director Kate Berner:

Personally grateful that ⁦@TDucklo⁩ and ⁦@alexi⁩ are dating because 1) she calls him on his sh*t and 2) TJ no longer facetimes me at literally all hours https://t.co/Csa3Co1Czy

— Kate Berner (@KateBerner) February 9, 2021

Is anyone surprised?

Hardly a surprise. https://t.co/CN8hg0GHYb

— Doug Powers (@ThePowersThatBe) February 9, 2021

Axios says they’re avoiding a conflict by moving her to — wait for it — covering VP Kamala Harris instead:

No joke: @Axios moved her from covering Biden to covering … Harris https://t.co/Cal6nsi22P

— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) February 9, 2021

From People: