Conservatives railed against the U.S. Military Academy at West Point on Wednesday, after it was reported that the academy told a left-wing journalist that Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, was never accepted into the school, which is false.
As reported by The Daily Wire, Hegseth scooped ProPublica, which was preparing to publish a story about Hegseth supposedly lying about getting into West Point. After Hegseth posted a photo of his acceptance letter, ProPublica said West Point’s public relations office told them twice on the record that Hegseth never even applied to the academy. However, after Hegseth sent the outlet his acceptance letter, ProPublica ignored the story.
Quickly, some online questioned why ProPublica didn’t publish the story about West Point giving them false information. West Point was also criticized for what the academy called an “error.”
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. pic.twitter.com/UOhOVZSfhJ
— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) December 11, 2024
“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) posted. “West Point needs to thoroughly investigate this egregiously bad judgement and potential violation of the Privacy Act immediately.”
Cotton published a photo of a letter he sent to West Point Superintendent Lieutenant General Steven W. Gilland. The letter asked the leader to look into the matter, noting that it was likely a violation of the Privacy Act of 1974 for such (false) information to be divulged to a media outlet.
Officials at the U.S. Military Academy should not be feeding lies to left-wing reporters about President Trump’s nominees.
West Point needs to thoroughly investigate this egregiously bad judgement and potential violation of the Privacy Act immediately. pic.twitter.com/gQpFjLbLaS
— Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) December 11, 2024
Vice President-elect JD Vance criticized the journalist for failing to report on the “actual story.” “You were misled by a bureaucrat,” he wrote. “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,” Vance added.
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. https://t.co/1vH2SrcOSb
— JD Vance (@JDVance) December 11, 2024
“A journalist would now focus on why the West Point Office of Public Affairs lied to them, as opposed to simply dropping the original story because it didn’t pan out the way they wanted,” Stephen L. Miller echoed.
“West Point lied to you about the incoming SECDEF and you didn’t think it was worth a story?” Sean Davis wrote. “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.”
Davis also responded to Cotton’s letter, writing, “Make it easy and just fire everyone in charge at West Point. Send a clear signal that nonsense will not be tolerated anywhere.”
“The real question & story here is **why** West Point lied to you,” Sean Parnell said. “Because it seems the motivation was to hurt Pete’s chances at becoming SECDEF. Which in turn could mean a military officer wanted to undermine a President-elect. And this folks, is precisely why we need Pete.”
The real question & story here is **why** West Point lied to you.
Because it seems the motivation was to hurt Pete’s chances at becoming SECDEF.
Which in turn could mean a military officer wanted to undermine a President-elect.
And this folks, is precisely why we need Pete. https://t.co/2KfBBPQNUk
— Sean Parnell (@SeanParnellUSA) December 11, 2024
“If Pete Hegseth hadn’t kept a letter for almost 30 years, the biggest story today would be about West Point. And it would have been a hoax,” Mike Cernovich posited. “Entire West Point chain of command must be removed.”
When The Daily Wire reached out to West Point on Wednesday about the discrepancy, the academy said it was due to an “error” on their part and apologized.
“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 said in a statement.
“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.”
“The academy takes this situation seriously and apologizes for this administrative error,” the directorate of communications added.
