The United States Military Academy West Point has recently come under fire for giving false information to a journalist attempting to write a critical piece about President-elect Donald Trump’s selection for Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth. Many have since spoken out against the prestigious institution calling for those involved in the incident to be held accountable.
For context, a journalist with the outlet ProPublica had reached out to West Point to verify claims Hegseth had previously made, claiming to have been accepted at the military academy. In response, the university responded, claiming that its records indicated that Hegseth had never even applied. However, Hegseth eventually shared his West Point acceptance letter from 1999, giving concrete proof that his claims were accurate.
Subsequently, conservatives on social media sounded off on West Point over the false information. “Officials at the U.S. Military Academy should not be feeding lies to left-wing reporters about President Trump’s nominees,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) said on X. “West Point needs to thoroughly investigate this egregiously bad judgement and potential violation of the Privacy Act immediately.”
The American Tribune previously reported on the response to the attempted hit piece about him. “We understand that ProPublica (the Left Wing hack group) is planning to publish a knowingly false report that I was not accepted to West Point in 1999. Here’s my letter of acceptance signed by West Point Superintendent, Lieutenant General Daniel Christman, US Army,” Hegseth wrote on X, sharing a picture of his admission letter.
After Hegseth shared his letter, ProPublica editor Jesse Eisinnger wrote, “Hegseth has said that he got into West Point but didn’t attend. We asked West Pt public affairs, which told us twice on the record that he hadn’t even applied there. We reached out. Hegseth’s spox gave us his acceptance letter. We didn’t publish a story. That’s journalism.”
“West Point lied to you about the incoming SECDEF and you didn’t think it was worth a story?” CEO and co-founder of The Federalist Sean Davis commented on the matter. Continuing to sound off on the bias displayed from the journalist, he said, “That’s not journalism. You were looking to run a partisan hit, and when it failed, you tried to slink away and pretend it never happened.”
Vice President-elect JD Vance echoed this sentiment, offering similar remarks when calling out the journalist in question. “You were misled by a bureaucrat. That’s actually a story, just not the one you wanted to print. The effort to tank Hegseth’s nomination is one of the most coordinated smear campaigns I’ve ever seen in DC,” the Ohio senator wrote.
Furthermore, West Point released a statement to the Daily Caller indicating the false information given to the journalist was an “error” on their behalf. “A review of our records indicates Peter Hegseth was offered admission to West Point in 1999 but did not attend,” the West Point directorate of communications explained. “An incorrect statement involving Hegseth’s admission to the U.S. Military Academy was released by an employee on Dec. 10, 2024,” the statement continued. “Upon further review of an archived database, employees realized this statement was in error. Hegseth was offered acceptance to West Point as a prospective member of the Class of 2003.”
Watch JD Vance defend Hegseth below:
Featured image credit: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pete_Hegseth_by_Gage_Skidmore_2.jpg
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