Pete Hegseth was confirmed to be accepted to the US Military Academy, contrary to a West Point official's earlier statement denying his application. This sparked a backlash and calls for investigation. Internal emails indicate West Point staff failed to check an old database confirming Hegseth's admission. ProPublica clarified its position, stating it had only sought confirmation of Hegseth's status. The incident unfolded on December 10 and 11, raising questions about West Point's communication and record-keeping processes.
On the morning of December 11, Hegseth wrote on X that the investigative news website ProPublica was about to run a 'knowingly false' story saying that he hadn't been admitted to the US Military Academy, where many of America's Army officers are trained.
At the time, Hegseth and his allies used the incident to blame West Point and the media. The new records show the mistake was West Point's, which neglected to review an old archive of the academy's thousands of past applicants before the controversy took off.
Internal emails, released to Business Insider under the Freedom of Information Act, showed West Point staffers exchanging emails on December 10 about Hegseth's claim to have been admitted, after he produced a letter as proof.
By the afternoon of the 10th, West Point staff seemed to have realized their mistake. 'Hes in there,' an employee whose name was redacted wrote in an email. 'Its in an old archived table,' the person said.
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