Emails show how media outlet ProPublica and West Point nearly promulgated fake news denying Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was ever admitted into the prestigious military academy.
Not only did West Point neglect to fully review their admission letters history in the ProPublica attempt to publish a hit piece during the presidential transition, but emails show doubters at the academy were suggestive of Hegseth having forged an admissions letter in calling out the potential fake news effort last December, Business Insider reported Wednesday.
Just one day before Hegseth outed the “knowingly false” ProPublica report on X, internal West Point emails show public affairs official Theresa Brinkerhoff emailed another West Point employee.
“Look what they now provided?” Brinkerhoff wrote.
Another email thread doubted the Hegseth admissions letter validity — without having referenced the records with an out-of-use database that would provide exculpatory validation and refute the ProPublica smear attempt.
“Anyone can generate an acceptance letter,” wrote another West Point emailer, whose name was redacted in the BI Freedom of Information Act request, “doesnt mean its legit.”
“Very true,” Brinkerhoff replied.
ProPublica claimed it was asking Hegseth to respond to a statement by a West Point public affairs official to the outlet that the Defense Secretary nominee had not applied to West Point and never was offered admission.
When forced to look again by the Hegseth-delivered proof, West Point would ultimately find validation of Hegseth’s admission registration and an offer being extended.
“Hes in there,” another employee whose name was redacted wrote in an email, BI reported from its FOIA request. “Its in an old archived table.
“The record shows that he declined the offer.”
Instead, Hegseth chose to play Division I basketball for Princeton. He studied politics and joined the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps. He would serve in the Army National Guard after graduation.
“The academy takes this situation seriously and apologizes for this administrative error,” West Point told media outlets over the Hegseth “error.”
Terrence Kelley, the head of West Point’s communications office, told BI of “regret” from the situation.
“Following the release of inaccurate admissions information last December, West Point implemented additional guidance for the proper review and release of any information to outside parties,” Kelley told BI. “We regret the error and are committed to ensuring it does not happen again.”
ProPublica claimed to have been given a statement rejecting Hegseth’s claim to admissions offer, instead of having pressed West Point for proof, suggesting it never intended to publish a smear without proof.
“Reporters do their job by asking tough questions to people in power, which is exactly what happened here,” a ProPublica spokesman told BI. “Responsible news organizations only publish what they can verify, which is why we didn’t publish a story once Mr. Hegseth provided documentation that corrected the statements from West Point.”
This attack on Hegseth was just many from media. He also had to answer to allegations of alcohol abuse and an alleged sex scandal before being confirmed narrowly by the Senate on the 51-50 tiebreaking vote by Vice President JD Vance.
After being in place as Defense Secretary, journalist Jeffrey Goldberg who President Donald Trump has rebuked a “fake news” promulgator on Russia collusion, was mistakenly added to a Signal Chat where Hegseth issued texts on military strikes on Yemen’s Houthis.
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