(Credit: Flickr/Ervins Strauhmanis)
Politico ended its contract with Julia Ioffe early after she tweeted that “either [Donald] Trump is f***ing his daughter or he’s shirking nepotism laws.” Her comment was shared with a link to a The Hill article headlined, “Ivanka Trump to get office WH space reserved for first lady: report.” Ioffe had announced she was leaving Politico a week earlier, however.
Politico responded in a memo, posted on Twitter by the Washington Post‘s Erik Wemple.
“Gratuitous opinion has no place, anywhere, at any time — not on your Facebook feed, your Twitter feed or any place else,” the memo read. “It has absolutely zero value for our readers and should have zero place in our work.”
Then Politico called Ioffee’s tweet “a clear example of the opposite,” and said that it’s “absolutely infuriating” that the tweet will “tarnish Politico” and its work. Politico said it was ending her contract immediately, even though she already had announced she was leaving Politico for The Atlantic. The Atlantic issued a press release Dec. 6 about the hiring of Ioffe to report on U.S. politics and foreign policy.
Scolding message from Politico's leadership on Julia Ioffe's Trump tweet from today: Contract terminated immediately. pic.twitter.com/Zz8fGfmukr
— ErikWemple (@ErikWemple) December 14, 2016
Ioffe tweeted in response to Wemple’s sharing of the memo, saying that “the way it was explained to me was that they were already having problems with the Trump administration.”
Atlantic Media SVP Communications Emily Lenzner tweeted that “we’re confident that when [Ioffe] joins The Atlantic next month she will adhere to our standards.”
Here's our statement on Julia Ioffe tweet: pic.twitter.com/LWJDW2frHw
— Emily Lenzner (@Elenzner) December 15, 2016
the way it was explained to me was that they were already having problems with the Trump administration.
— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) December 14, 2016
Ioffe also apologized on Twitter for her “crass joke” that was “tasteless” and “offensive” and said she regretted it.
We have a president-elect who popularized "saying what everyone is thinking," but I guess my phrasing should've been more delicate.
— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) December 14, 2016
All that said, I do regret my phrasing and apologize for it. It was a crass joke that I genuinely regret.
— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) December 14, 2016
It was a tasteless, offensive tweet that I regret and have deleted. I am truly and deeply sorry. It won't happen again.
— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) December 14, 2016
