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.
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