Politico suspended White House correspondent Joseph Williams over tweets and television comments that took aim at Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and his wife, Ann. The conservative website Breitbart.com characterized Williams’ tweets as “outrageous race- and class-baiting.”

Politico editors John Harris and Jim VandeHei announced the suspension in an email to employees to emphasize that his tweets and TV commentary “have called into question his commitment” to the publications standards for fairness and judgment. They added that his actions “require us to make clear that our standards are serious, and so are the consequences for disregarding them.”

Amid the controversy, Williams followed a course that is becoming increasingly common in such circumstances: He made his Twitter account private.