Pete Hegseth’s Acceptance to West Point Is a Story
When is a news story not a news story? Perhaps when it is disproven prior to publication. Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of defense, lashed out at ProPublica earlier this week after the investigative journalism organization started asking questions about whether Hegseth had ever been accepted to the United States Military Academy in West Point.
The outlet ultimately decided not to publish the story.
Here’s what happened. On Wednesday, Hegseth posted on X that ProPublica—which he described as a “Left Wing hack group”—was planning to publish a bombshell report contradicting Hegseth’s account that he had been accepted to West Point in 1999.
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
Hegseth set the record straight by publishing his letter of acceptance, signed by West Point’s superintendent, Lieutenant General Daniel Christman of the U.S. Army.
But that article never materialized.
ProPublica‘s editor Jesse Eisinger thus defended his organization’s behavior.
“We asked West Pt public affairs, which told us twice on the record that he hadn’t even applied there,” explained Eisinger. “We reached out. Hegseth’s spox gave us his acceptance letter. We didn’t publish a story. That’s journalism.”
Eisinger is correct. ProPublica‘s report did his job: He checked and double-checked a story. The mistake was made by West Point’s communications department, which twice contended—falsely—that Hegseth had never applied to the military academy.
In a tweet thread, Eisinger explained what happened. First, his reporter contacted the West Point public affairs office to inquire about Hegseth’s claim that he was accepted there. Th
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