Tom Cotton demands West Point explain why it 'cooperated' with ProPublica on Hegseth story

12 December 2024

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) has been trying to pressure fellow Senate Republicans into confirming all of President-elect Donald Trump's nominees for his incoming administration, including the most controversial ones. One of them is former Fox News host Pete Hegseth, Trump's embattled nominee for defense secretary.

In a Wednesday, December 11 post on X, formerly Twitter, Hegseth wrote, "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 Military Academy in 1999."

But ProPublica's Jesse Eisinger, in response, tweeted, "We asked West Pt public affairs, which told us twice on the record that he hadn't even applied there. We reached out. Hegseth's spox gave us his acceptance letter. We didn't publish a story. That's journalism."

The following day, 2Way founder Mark Halperin tweeted that Cotton wanted to know why ProPublica agreed to be interviewed by ProPublica.

2Way posted, "Sen. Tom Cotton sent a stern letter to West Point demanding to know why they cooperated with a liberal news outlet on its investigation into whether a teenage Pete Hegseth applied there (Hegseth supplied proof he was accepted). 'Tom Cotton is a key senator, going to be the number three Republican in the new Senate,' says @MarkHalperin. And for Tom Cotton to be out there helping the nominees through is significant."

In a video, Halperin reported, "Some Republicans, of course, are not on the record in support of some of the nominees, including Pete Hegseth. Some Republican senators are, even before the hearing."

Halperin added, "Tom Cotton is basically out there saying, pretending everybody is going to be confirmed — and urging Republicans…. to be on the team, to be fighting for the nominees, to be part of that war, to go against the media.

Watch 2Way's video below or at this link.

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