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FIRST ON FOX: Almost a week has passed since the United States Military Academy West Point admitted a mistake was made when a staffer said Pete Hegseth’s request was not accepted, and President-elect Donald Trump’s Defense Department secretary told Fox News Digital that he has yet to hear back directly from school.
“I would just say no sense of West Point” Hegseth said Tuesday. “Nothing.”
Asked if he would like a direct apology from the school, the former Fox News anchor said, “One might think.”
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Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth has yet to hear from West Point Military Academy. (Getty)
ProPublica senior editor and reporter Jesse Eisinger told X last week that West Point reported twice that Hegseth had not even applied for admission. According to Eisinger, he was never admitted “100%” to the school, “because he never opened a file.”
However, Hegseth applied to West Point and was accepted in 1999, but never attended.
The defense secretary hopeful provided ProPublica with his original acceptance letter to the academy, and Eisinger said they approached West Point again, which later admitted a mistake had been made.
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Pete Hegseth, center, has been making the rounds on Capitol Hill. (Tom Williams)
In a statement, West Point said: “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 the Hegseth’s admission to the US Military Academy on December 10, 2024.”
“After reviewing an archived database, staff realized this statement was in error. 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.”
When Hegseth learned of the story ProPublica had been working on, he publicly shared his acceptance letter to X. “We understand that ProPublica (the left-wing hacker group) plans to publish a false report in aware that I was not accepted to West Point in 1999. Here is my acceptance letter signed by West Point Superintendent Lt. Gen. Daniel Christman of the States Army united
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The “mistake” at West Point raised questions for several Republicans. In a Dec. 11 letter to Lt. Gen. Steven Gilland, superintendent of the US Military Academy, after Hegseth broke the ProPublica story, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark.said: “I understand that a civilian public affairs officer, Theresa Brinkerhoff, informed a reporter that Mr. Hegseth did not apply to West Point, as he has said publicly in the past. That statement is incorrect; not only Mr. Hegseth is applying, but he was also accepted to West Point’s class of 2003.”
“Worse still, the statement may violate Mr. Hegseth’s rights under the Privacy Act of 1974 by disclosing protected personal information. If true, it also demonstrates egregiously poor judgment in sharing this information about the nominee for secretary of Defense with a liberal media known as ProPublica.”
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Senator Tom Cotton immediately wrote to West Point pointing out the mistake. (Photo: Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., also asked for information on how the error occurred in his own letter last week. The senator-elect wrote to Gilland, requesting “all communications and documentation regarding how West Point OPA falsely accused Hegseth of lying about his application.”
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The school employee error comes as Hegseth continues his meeting on Capitol Hill with senators hoping to be confirmed in 2025 as Trump’s defense secretary.
West Point did not immediately comment to Fox News Digital.
