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Left-leaning nonprofit ProPublica is facing renewed scrutiny after an email exchange related to its recent unpublished story on Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth was released Thursday.
A media firestorm began earlier this week when Hegseth revealed to X that ProPublica, which he called a “left-wing hacking group” planned to publish a “knowingly false report” that was not accepted by West Point in 1999. Attached to the post was a photo of the letter of Hegseth’s acceptance signed by the Superintendent of West Point. Lt. Gen. Daniel Christman, US Army.
Jesse Eisinger, editor of ProPublica responded to the postexplaining that West Point public affairs had told the medium twice that Hegseth had failed to show up.
“We got in touch,” Eisinger wrote. “Hegseth’s spox gave us his acceptance letter. We didn’t run a story. That’s journalism.”
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Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth, left, and West Point Military Academy, right (Getty)
After intense criticism from conservatives online, with some questioning why ProPublica didn’t press West Point about the inaccurate information and publish a story about it, Eisinger issued a long X wire outlining the steps ProPublica had taken in investigating the story stating and promoting how “they are concerned with accuracy” and being “intellectually honest” and had given Hegseth a “fair opportunity to respond to all the salient facts of the story.”
Questions about ProPublica’s journalistic standards intensified soon after when Daily caller posted an email from reporter Justin Elliot who contacted Hegseth’s attorney, giving him an hour to respond to the allegation that he never went to West Point and asking, “Why did Mr. Hegseth say that got into West Point when that’s not true?”
Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense, heads to a meeting with Sen. Ted Budd, RNC, at the Russell Building on Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (Tom Williams)
“How can Mr Hegseth be Secretary of Defense given that he has made false statements about getting into the military’s most prestigious academy?” Elliot asked.
That email drew the ire of many on social media, who took issue with the email’s accusatory tone and the short window to respond to such a serious complaint, suggesting the story had already been completed without hearing the beside Hegseth.
“ProPublica did not reach out to Pete Hegseth for the full story,” said Red State writer Bonchie. published in X. “They contacted him claiming he was a liar and demanding a response within an hour not to offer his side but to ask him why he ‘lied’ and what else he ‘lied’ about “”.
“This is not ‘journalism’. It is unethical rubbish.”
“***Nothing*** in Jesse’s 11-tweet thread even hinted that ***this*** is how ProPublica approached the story: picking up the West Point falsehood, repeatedly affirming Hegseth that he was a liar and an insinuation is unfit for SecDef and gives him just one hour to respond,” said reporter Jerry Dunleavy published in X.
“ProPublica editor-in-chief claimed they gave @PeteHegseth a fair chance to respond to West Point story because ‘they care about accuracy,'” Greg Price, Trump 2024 rapid response director. published in X. “According to this baffling email obtained by @reaganreese, they outright accused him of being a liar and gave him an hour to respond.”
REPUBLICAN MILITARY VETERANS IN CONGRESS ARE ON A MISSION TO CONFIRM HEGSETH
West Point cadets salute as U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III arrives for the West Point 2021 commencement ceremony at Michie Stadium. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
In a statement to Fox News Digital, a spokesperson for ProPublica said: “Reporters do their job by asking tough questions of people in power, which is exactly what happened here. Responsible news organizations only publish what they they can verify, that’s why we did it.” I will not post a story once Mr. Hegseth provided documentation that corrected West Point’s statements.”
Fox News Digital reached out to West Point to ask if disciplinary action had been taken against employees for providing false information and why procedures were not in place to prevent this type of error.
West Point directed Fox News Digital in its previously released statement.
“A review of our records indicates that Peter Hegseth was offered admission to West Point in 1999 but did not attend. An employee posted an incorrect statement implying Hegseth’s admission to the US Military Academy USA on December 10, 2024. After further review of an archived database, employees realized that this statement was incorrect Hegseth was offered acceptance to West Point as a potential member of the class of 2003. The academy takes this situation seriously and apologizes for this administrative error.”
In a letter to West Point This week, Republican Congressman Jim Banks wrote, “It is outrageous that West Point officials would so grossly interfere in a political process and make false claims about a presidential candidate.”
“Even in the unlikely scenario of OPA mistakenly making false claims not once but twice, it is an act of inexcusable incompetence that OPA did not fully ensure that its information was accurate before sharing – her with a journalist”.
This week’s ProPublica controversy comes after the nonprofit, which does received millions of dollars from liberal foundationsfaced heavy criticism for his reporting on conservative US Supreme Court justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, which critics referred to as “hit pieces”.
Associate Justice Samuel Alito joins other members of the US Supreme Court as they pose for a new group portrait in October 2022. (AP/J. Scott Applewhite)
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“Journalistic investigation into the private dealings of public officials is essential to our democracy. But honest investigation applies the same standard to all people rather than singling out those with whom one disagrees,” Gretchen said Reiter, senior vice president of communications at Stand Together. Fox News Digital last year regarding ProPublica’s reporting on Thomas.
ProPublica’s reporting on Alito prompted the justice to write a Wall Street Journal Opinion Edition where he wrote: “ProPublica has brought two charges against me: first, that I should have recused myself in matters in which an entity related to Paul Singer was a party, and second, that I was required to include certain items as gifts in the my 2008. Financial disclosure report neither charge is valid.”
ProPublica he kept his report about Alito, but acknowledged that there are “lessons for ProPublica in this experience.”
