Alphabet chief legal officer David Drummond says he's far from perfect

Alphabet's chief legal officer, David Drummond, gave a personal statement first reported by BuzzFeed News on Thursday in which he said he was “far from perfect.”

Jennifer Blakely, a former paralegal on Drummond's team, personally spoke out Wednesday in a Medium post in which she said the chief legal exec fathered a son with her while he was married and later abandoned her and abused her emotionally.

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Alphabet's chief legal officer, David Drummond, gave a personal statement first reported by BuzzFeed News on Thursday in which he said he was “far from perfect,” but he declined to apologize for an extramarital relationship he had with a subordinate at Google.

Drummond, one of the highest-paid executives at Google's parent company, acknowledged what he described as a “difficult break-up” 10 years ago but said he had a “very different view” of some of the claims made public Wednesday by Jennifer Blakely — a former paralegal on Drummond's team.

In a remarkable blog post on Wednesday, Blakely said Drummond, then Google's chief legal exec, fathered a son with her while he was married and then abandoned her and abused her emotionally.

“The abuse of power didn't stop with being pushed out,” she wrote, referring to leaving her job at Google. “Afterwards I was pushed down, lest I got in the way of the behavior that had become even more oppressive and entitled.”

Google has refused to comment on the matter, which involves allegations about one of the highest-paid and most powerful executives at the company. “We don't have a statement on this to share,” a Google representative told Business Insider in an email. “We've seen that Mr. Drummond has issued a personal statement, see here,” Google said.

The company, which has been rocked by allegations that it protects its male executives who have engaged in sexual misconduct, in some cases giving them huge payouts, declined to make Drummond available for an interview.

In November, roughly 20,000 Google employees staged a walkout to protest the company's treatment of executives accused of misconduct and what the employees saw as a lack of accountability at a company whose founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, control a majority of the voting power.

Drummond's statement Thursday, which was tweeted out in full by the BuzzFeed News reporter Ryan Mac, calls into questions some of the claims raised by Blakely's recent account of their relationship.

“Her account raises many claims about us and other people, including our son and my former wife,” Drummond said in the statement. “As you would expect, there are two sides to all of the conversations and details Jennifer recounts, and I take a very different view about what happened. I have discussed these claims directly with Jennifer, and I addressed the details of our relationship with our employer at the time.”

'I won't be getting into a public back and forth about these personal matters'

According to Blakely's account from Wednesday, Drummond had multiple relationships with other colleagues at Google, including a “personal assistant” who Blakely said moved into one of his homes.

Drummond took issue with the claim, insisting that besides Blakely, he had “never started a relationship” with anyone else at Google or Alphabet. “Any suggestion otherwise is simply untrue,” he said.

Still, the specific phrasing that Drummond — a lawyer by training — used in saying he never “started” a relationship with other Google staffers is likely to raise questions about his forthrightness on the matter.

“I know Jennifer feels wronged and understand that she wants to speak out about it,” Drummond said, “but I won't be getting in a public back and forth about these personal matters.”

Drummond joined Google in 2002 as head of corporate development, two years before the company's initial public offering. Over the following years he assumed increasing responsibility, overseeing the legal department and government relations, as Google grew into one of the world's most valuable companies and restructured into Alphabet.

Here is Drummond's full statement, as given to BuzzFeed:

It's not a secret that Jennifer and I had a difficult break-up 10 years ago. I am far from perfect and I regret my part in that.

Her account raises many claims about us and other people, including our son and my former wife. As you would expect, there are two sides to all of the conversations and details Jennifer recounts, and I take a very different view about what happened. I have discussed these claims directly with Jennifer, and I addressed the details of our relationship with our employer at the time.

But I do want to address one claim that touches on professional matters. Other than Jennifer, I never started a relationship with anyone else who was working at Google or Alphabet. Any suggestion otherwise is simply untrue.

I know Jennifer feels wronged and understand that she wants to speak out about it. But I won't be getting into a public back and forth about these personal matters.

David Drummond