ProPublica really hoped to prove Pete Hegseth lied about acceptance to West Point. They were full steam ahead with the story until Hegseth's team went ahead and outed the scheme to the public. Today, we learned how the plot unfolded.
"How can Mr. Hegseth be Secretary of Defense given that he has made false statements about getting in to the military's most prestigious academy?"
— John Ekdahl (@JohnEkdahl) December 12, 2024
They ask this question, then when find out they were lied to, they just shrugged and dropped the story. Incredible. pic.twitter.com/FS2pvNlsMD
ProPublica's Editor-in-Chief claimed that they gave @PeteHegseth a fair chance to respond to the West Point story because they "care about accuracy."
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) December 12, 2024
According to this unhinged email obtained by @reaganreese_, they straight up accused him of being a liar and gave him a one hour… pic.twitter.com/PHdkcl7CzP
They had no intentions of being fair to him or any Republican, actually.
"One hour deadline" by the way means they had already written the story they were gonna publish. ProPublica should be lucky Pete had his acceptance letter otherwise they would've taken one the fattest L's in journalism history.
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) December 12, 2024
One hour doesn't even give him time to scan and email a document back to them.
EXCLUSIVE: Emails, Phone Logs Reveal How Botched Hegseth West Point Story Imploded
— Reagan Reese (@reaganreese_) December 12, 2024
After a West Point spokesperson falsely claimed that @PeteHegseth had not applied or been accepted to the school, ProPublica reached out to Hegseth's lawyer, asserting that the Secretary of… pic.twitter.com/bN9ahCwC1p
"How real journalism works"
— Kyle Beckley (@Kyle_Beckley) December 12, 2024
Well, on that, we agree. Real journalism works as unethical oppo research for the democrats.
Their definition of 'real journalism' is serving as the press arm of the DNC.
This is a pretty damning email. The entire framing is antagonistic and intentionally accusatory.
— Pretty (not) Lieb (@prettylieb) December 12, 2024
Justin should not be a reporter.
Antagonistic is how they feel toward anything that has to do with Trump.
@PhilipDBunn I’m sorry, this puts the lie to your claim that ProPublica was behaving ethically
— D.E. (@tkdylan) December 12, 2024
It's all out in the open now.
"Our deadline is in one hour" means they're already written the story and they're not giving you enough time to respond.
— Mostly Peaceful Cat (@MaxPaxCat) December 12, 2024
Everybody involved at West Point and Pro Publica should be fired.
This was supposed to be the big smear that all the Democrats would wax on about on the weekend talk shows.
— blanky mcblank (@f4z6nxjqvx) December 12, 2024
I wonder what plan B is?
Oh, they are cooking up their next big smear.
I've said this before but the "our deadline is in one hour" bit is an abusive practice that I would actually support being made illegal https://t.co/qKzk7Pn1Q9
— David Hines (@hradzka) December 12, 2024
Before this, I actually had a decent opinion of @ProPublica. Liberal, to be sure, but I thought they were honest. Now I know better. https://t.co/dmqr5Z9Hje
— Karl Crary (@Crary76) December 12, 2024
They've tarnished their reputation forever.
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