ProPublica, a nonprofit news outlet that boasts digging deep into “important issues,” nearly published a false news story about Defense Secretary Nominee Pete Hegseth but was deterred after Hegseth sent them his letter of admission.
On Wednesday morning, Hegseth revealed on his X account that ProPublica was planning to publish a “knowingly false report” that he was not accepted to West Point in 1999, and he posted his letter of admission.
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.
— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) December 11, 2024
Here’s my letter of acceptance signed by West Point Superintendent, Lieutenant General Daniel Christman, US Army. pic.twitter.com/UOhOVZSfhJ
The editor of ProPublica, Jesse Eisenger, then claimed on X that they were not going to publish a story.
But Eisenger also revealed that ProPublica had already planned to write one, even before reaching out to Hegseth, based on statements from West Point — which later turned out to be wrong.
Eisenger said the outlet urged Hegseth’s lawyer to “contact his client to make sure Hegseth understood what we were planning to write.”
And even after being sent Hegseth’s letter of admission, ProPublica pursued the story, going “back to West Point.” At that point, West Point admitted it had made a mistake and that Hegseth indeed was offered admission.
Still, according to Hegseth’s lawyer, Tim Parlatore, ProPublica never told Hegseth or his team that they were not going to publish a story.
10/ We went back to West Point. They apologized.
— Jesse Eisinger (@eisingerj) December 11, 2024
An Army spokesman wrote: pic.twitter.com/HFN76mOSOh
Eisenger, in a sanctimonious thread on X, claimed the outlet was just doing journalism.
“This is how journalism is supposed to work. Hear something. Check something. Repeat steps 1 and 2 as many times as needed. The end,” he posted.
However, that assertion did not explain why he contacted Hegseth only after they had already planned to write a story.
And he did not address why they were looking into Hegseth’s claim he was admitted to West Point in the first place.
As much more serious, yet anonymous and unverified, allegations against Hegseth have failed to stop his momentum towards getting confirmed by the Senate, the news media has turned to attacking Hegseth’s military record and credentials.
The Washington Post recently published a piece downplaying Hegseth’s two Bronze Stars.
Karoline Leavitt, a Trump transition team spokeswoman, called the Post’s reporting an attempt to “smear” Trump’s nominees and “minimize the honorable service of Pete Hegseth.”
“This,” she told the paper, “is another disgusting story.”
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