FOIAzona

ProPublica thought it had the scoop of the year.

Pete Hegseth, President Donald Trump’s nominee for U.S. Secretary of Defense, had long claimed that he’d been accepted to the prestigious U.S. Military Academy known as West Point. When ProPublica reached out for confirmation, though, the academy said it wasn’t true. He had never been accepted. The reporters were ready to publish an article, one that would almost certainly kill his confirmation … but then Hegseth published his acceptance letter on Twitter.

Was it real? A fake? What in the world happened here? FOIAzona obtained 149 pages of emails from West Point via the Freedom of Information Act revealing internal chaos after a cut-and-dry media inquiry escalated into crisis communications that could have turned the Trump administration on its head, all due to a research error.

The never-before-seen timeline of events is detailed below. You can find a user-friendly PDF version of this document here and the full batch of FOIA records here.

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ProPublica first reached out West Point three weeks after Hegseth’s nomination. The reporter followed up three days later and spoke on the phone with Frank DeMaro, a public affairs specialist in the academy’s media relations division. DeMaro followed up with ProPublica via email afterward and reiterated that there is no “database” showing “who applied or was offered admission” but that he “sent your request to our admissions office to see if they are able to provide more details.”

ProPublica (December 6, 2024, 1:23 PM):
“Hello, I’m a reporter with ProPublica. Have a question I was hoping you could provide comment on. Was Pete Hegseth offered admission to West Point? This would have been for the class starting in 1999.”

ProPublica (December 9, 2024, 12:25 AM):
“Hello, Checking in about my email from Friday. Please let me know if Pete Hegseth was offered admission, or ever applied, to West Point. This would have likely been sometime in the late 1990s. Just as a point of reference, West Point has in the past verified whether individuals applied/were offered admissions. See here: (link) Am working on a tight deadline. Am also available by phone: (redacted).”

West Point (Frank DeMaro) (December 9, 2024, 11:19 AM):
“(redacted) good speaking with you. Like I mentioned on the phone we do not have a database that shows who applied or was offered admission we can only confirm that he never attended the academy. We have sent your request to our admissions office to see if they are able to provide more details about application/offers etc.”

A few hours later, Theresa Brinkerhoff, a public affairs representative in the academy’s Directorate of Communications, asked a West Point colleague—whose name is redacted but to whom she refers as “sir”—to “run [a] query for me” to confirm if Hegseth “didnt apply/start a file.” The colleague responded that there are no records suggesting he had “ever applied to USMA.”

West Point (Theresa Brinkerhoff) (December 9, 2024, 3:53 PM):
“Sir, I understand that everyone is away from the office today. Is it possible to run this query for me tomorrow? Ive already checked in the Register of Graduates and can speak with confidence that Pete Hegseth did not attend or graduate from USMA but are you able to confirm that he didnt apply/start a file? We went through this when (redacted) was running for office, made a comment and got everybody stirred up. Im in tomorrow if you or a member of your team can touch base with me on this as hes on deadline. I certainly appreciate the effort.”

West Point (Name Redacted) (December 9, 2024, No Time Stamp):
“Teresa, I checked the system, and I cant find any records showing that Pete Hegseth ever applied to USMA. Please let me know if you need anything else.”

Brinkerhoff notified ProPublica of the admissions office’s findings. Hours later, though, the outlet sent an “urgent” email to Brinkerhoff and DeMaro stating that Hegseth’s team disclosed they have a copy of his acceptance letter from West Point. The disclosure to ProPublica was made privately, with Hegseth’s team “refus[ing] to share” the copy.

West Point (Theresa Brinkerhoff) (December 10, 2024, 6:00 AM):
“According to the admissions office Hegseth had not applied for admission to the U.S. Military Academy.”

ProPublica (December 10, 2024, 10:50 AM):
“Frank and Theresa, I need your urgent response on two questions: -Hegseth’s representatives claim West Point is in violation of federal law by disclosing admissions information. Is that true? Can you point to the policy that makes clear this is public info? -His representatives also said that he was offered admission, and that they have the acceptance letter from West Point, but they refuse to share it. However, you all said he did not apply, and he was not offered admission. Any response?”

Brinkerhoff forwarded ProPublica’s email to a colleague, wondered “where this guy is going with this,” and said that “he obviously is on some witch hunt.” The colleague also questioned whether Hegseth’s acceptance letter, which still had not been shared publicly, was “legit” since “anyone can generate an acceptance letter” on the computer.

West Point (Theresa Brinkerhoff) (December 10, 2024, 1:53 PM):
“Here we go again? Is this correct? I cant tell where this guy is going with this.”

West Point (Name Redacted) (December 10, 2024, 1:58 PM):
“From what I can tell there is no record of him applying. That said, it was in the 1990s so records could have been lost. Ill keep digging and see if I can find anything. Also what federal did we break by saying we have no records.”

West Point (Theresa Brinkerhoff) (December 10, 2024, No Time Stamp):
“Okay, Im not holding my breath on this one he obviously is on some witch hunt.”

West Point (Name Redacted) (December 10, 2024, 2:01 PM):
“Also, anyone can generate an acceptance letter so just because they have one doesnt mean its legit.”

West Point (Theresa Brinkerhoff) (December 10, 2024, No Time Stamp):
“Very true.”

Around the same time, Cheryl Boujnida, the chief of media relations in the academy’s Directorate of Communications, was having a separate conversation with DeMaro. Boujnida described the Hegseth situation as “a mess” and said that the notion his acceptance letter was a “hoax” is “doubtful.”

West Point (Cheryl Boujnida) (December 10, 2024, 2:06 PM):
“This Hegseth thing is a mess. How is it possible that admissions said he never got an offer? Are you and T discussing?”

West Point (Frank DeMaro) (December 10, 2024, 2:12 PM):
“Yeah crazy (redacted) was in the office earlier talking about it too.”

West Point (Cheryl Boujnida) (December 10, 2024, No Time Stamp):
“So odd. Unless the letter is hoax, but that is doubtful.”

Meanwhile, Terry Kelley, the academy’s director of communications, spoke on the phone with ProPublica. He offered the outlet his “sincere apologies for the incorrect information” and promised to “send our on the record comment ASAP.”

West Point (Terry Kelley) (December 10, 2024, 1:48 PM):
“Following up from our call so you have my contact information. We will send our on the record comment ASAP. Again, my sincere apologies for the incorrect information; it was inadvertent.”

ProPublica (December 10, 2024, No Time Stamp):
“Thank you. And appreciate the apology. When do you think you can get me something on the record?”

ProPublica (December 10, 2024, 2:03 PM):
“They just sent images of the letter. Can you check your records again?”

West Point (Theresa Brinkerhoff) (December 10, 2024, No Time Stamp):
“Thank you for sending this along. Ill send it to our admissions office to recheck/review since they were unable to find any records showing that he applied to USMA.”

However, that “on the record comment” never came, and it’s unclear whether West Point had actually confirmed its mistake at the time of the apology or just took Hegseth at his word. I say this because it appears the team at West Point only began to search for relevant Hegseth records after the apology email. After receiving ProPublica’s email at 2:03 PM (“They just sent images of the letter”), Brinkerhoff forwarded the outlet’s email to her colleagues and wrote, “Look what they now provided??” This kicked off a series of three concurrent internal email chains; we’ll refer to these below as Concurrent Email Chains #1, #2, and #3.

The text of Concurrent Email Chain #1—in which Brinkerhoff emails a redacted West Point official, who then escalates the matter to Kelley—can be seen here:

West Point (Theresa Brinkerhoff) (December 10, 2024, 2:10 PM):
“Look what they now provided??”

West Point (Name Redacted) (December 10, 2024, 2:12 PM):
“I will, but we might have to go back to the archives for this one! Nothing is coming up in the data base.”

West Point (Name Redacted) (December 10, 2024, 2:12 PM):
“I need to loop you in This was from the guy looking to see if Hegseth attended/graduated. DAD said no records existed, I replied and then he came back providing a letter and saying we violated.”

The text of Concurrent Email Chain #2—in which Brinkerhoff emails a redacted West Point official, who then escalates the matter to a redacted member of the research/data team, who ultimately is the one who discovers Hegseth’s acceptance letter in “an old archived table”—can be found below.

First, though, it is worth highlighting that one of redacted names here says upon discovering Hegseth’s acceptance letter he/she “would not recommend that we confirm or deny this with any media.” One of those redacted names (possibly the same person) then conveys a similar message to Brinkerhoff that “I agree we just dont tell him anything at tis point unless SJA says OK.” We don’t know who these individuals are, and there is no indication that the unsolicited recommendation regarding media strategy was heeded:

West Point (Theresa Brinkerhoff) (December 10, 2024, 2:10 PM):
“Look what they now provided??”

West Point (Name Redacted) (December 10, 2024, 2:15 PM):
“So, when I ran the database for Pete Hegseth I couldnt find that he ever applied, but his folks sent me the documents below. Is there any way we can dig back to see if he was actually accepted in 1999? Im not sure we actually can.”

West Point (Name Redacted) (December 10, 2024, 3:33 PM):
“Hes in there. Its in an old archived table. you can run the following in dw_wrk:SELECT * FROM applicants_all_clean_udw WHERE name_last = ‘Hegseth’ The record shows that he declined the offer.”

West Point (Name Redacted) (December 10, 2024, 3:36 PM):
“I would not recommend that we confirm or deny this with any media. Ive included (redacted) and (redacted) we have become SUPER careful of releasing names for any reasons unless we get clearance from SJA.”

West Point (Name Redacted) (December 10, 2024, No Time Stamp):
“This is what got back from the really smart data folks. I agree we just dont tell him anything at tis point unless SJA says OK.”

The text of Concurrent Email Chain #3—in which Brinkerhoff emails a redacted West Point official, who joins her in expressing criticism about how the process is playing out—can be found below:

West Point (Theresa Brinkerhoff) (December 10, 2024, 2:10 PM):
“Look what they now provided??”

West Point (Name Redacted) (December 10, 2024, 2:23 PM):
“So are they saying we released this? I simply said we didnt have records of him applying.”

West Point (Theresa Brinkerhoff) (December 10, 2024, 2:27 PM):
“Im unsure why they wouldnt provide this upfront. He obviously didnt complete the process so is it safe to say thats why records are purged perhaphs?”

West Point (Name Redacted) (December 10, 2024, 2:33 PM):
“I honestly dont care if he says he was offered or not. Ultimately it looks like he declined and went to Princeton, so what is the problem?”

West Point (Theresa Brinkerhoff) (December 10, 2024, 2:27 PM):
“Exactly! I hate all this political mumbo-jumbo. I did find this if thats what they are claiming in regard to the information. Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA): This 1974 law protects the privacy of student education records, including admission records, at all schools that receive federal funds. FERPA limits third-party access to student records and generally prohibits schools from disclosing information without certain exceptions. Students can request access to their admission records and waive the non-disclosure provision by signing an authorization form.”

West Point still hadn’t sent ProPublica its “on the record comment” by the following morning, which Kelley knew was a problem and conveyed that message to colleagues:

West Point (Terry Kelley) (December 11, 2024, 7:54:12 AM):
“I believe we need to correct the record asap, regardless of propriety. The reporter is waiting to hear back from us with official word. Confirming Hegseth’s claim probably kills any interest Propublica has in the story but the longer we delay response, the more likely that becomes a story. Response: A review of our records indicates Pete Hegseth was offered admission in 1999 but did not attend Weat Point. We may need to explain the error; I don’t want to, but if the reporter demands an on the record explanation, we need to be ready: The records in question are more than 25 years old. When asked about Mr. Hegseths admission offer, an employee was initially unable to find the applicable records. A subsequent search found another out-of-use database that contained the records. The error was unintentional and immediately corrected.”

West Point (Terry Kelley) (December 11, 2024, No Time Stamp):
“I just sent this to and Chief. I believe CoS will dial me into call with Supe in an hour.”

At some point that morning, Hegseth published his acceptance letter on Twitter and 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 in 1999. Here’s my letter of acceptance signed by West Point Superintendent, Lieutenant General Daniel Christman, US Army.”

This prompted ProPublica to “urgently” follow up with West Point, highlighting the two on-the-record statements it had received from the academy (Brinkerhoff and DeMaro) denying his claims. Kelley offered his “personal and professional apologies for this error” about 90 minutes later and emphasized “with the utmost sincerity that this was an honest mistake by employees searching 25-year-old records,” which the outlet accepted.

ProPublica (December 11, 2024, 9:23AM):
“This is (redacted), colleague at ProPublica working on the Pete Hegseth reporting. (redacted) is on the west coast so I’m handling morning duties.) I just texted you and left a voicemal as well. We urgently need a response from West Point on this Pete Hegseth admissions issue. Hegseth tweeted the attached this morning. What we currently have from West Point on the record is Theresa Brinkerhoff saying: ‘According to the admissions office Hegseth had not applied for admission to the U.S. Military Academy.’ In a follow-up call, we asked another academy spokesperson if Hegseth never applying necessarily meant he was not offered admission. Absolutely 100% said Francis DeMaro Jr. Because he never opened a file. If West Point wishes to revise its statement on the record, we need to know now. Please call me at (redacted).”

West Point (Terry Kelley) (December 11, 2024, 10:46 AM):
“First, my personal and professional apologies for this error. I assure you with the utmost sincerity that this was an honest mistake by employees searching 25-year-old records. You may attribute the following to myself as an Army spokesman: A review of our records indicates Mr. Peter Hegseth was offered admission to West Point in 1999 but did not attend West Point. An incorrect statement involving Mr. Hegseths admission to the United States Military Academy was released by an employee on December 10, 2024. Upon further review of an achieved database, employees realized this statement was in error. Mr. Hegseth was offered acceptance to West Point as a prospective member of the class of 2003. USMA takes this situation very seriously, and we apologize for this administrative error.”

ProPublica (December 11, 2024, 11:05 AM):
“Thank you, Colonel Kelley. We appreciate your efforts to resolve this quickly. Just so we fully understand the circumstances of Hegseth’s application and admission to the Academy: Can you tell us who nominated him? Or any other context on his application?”

ProPublica never received its additional “context on [Hegseth’s] application” because an unnamed West Point official—referred to only as the “boss”—had instructed the academy’s media team to “hold on response to anyone else on the follow ups” for the time being.

West Point (Frank DeMaro) (December 11, 2024, 10:05 AM):
“No, I dont think I will take mine agree I never get on it. We should get T to do the roll-up tomorrow shes at the IPR to the Supt for A/N and still dealing with this Pete Hegseth issue.”

West Point (Cheryl Boujnida) (December 11, 2024, No Time Stamp):
“Okay sounds good. I still cant understand why we did not know about his appointment letter.”

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West Point (Theresa Brinkerhoff) (December 11, 2024, 11:15 AM):
“FYSA- boss said hold on response to anyone else on the follow ups. Ultimately they should get the straight info of yes he did but did not attend…stand by.”

West Point (Cheryl Boujnida) (December 11, 2024, No Time Stamp):
“Okay sounds good.”

Regardless, a flood of media inquiries began pouring into West Point’s inbox from outlets like the Washington Examiner, Fox News, the Washington Free Beacon, the Washington Times, the Federalist, the Daily Wire, and the New York Post. It was an inquiry from CBS News that spurred West Point’s press team to ask whether the unnamed “boss” should be given access to the media inbox, which could be both “good and bad.” One team member recommended that “we should keep him off” and asked, “How long does it take to get a statement together?”

West Point (Frank DeMaro) (December 11, 2024, 11:07 AM):
“Cheryl, Do you want to add the boss back to the media relations box, so he has access to all these queries? Or keep him off and T and you handle these requests and back brief him? T said its up to you there is good and bad having him on that box.”

West Point (Cheryl Boujnida) (December 11, 2024, 11:07 AM):
“I think we should keep him off and T and I handle it. The sooner we get the statement, it will calm down.”

West Point (Frank DeMaro) (December 11, 2024, No Time Stamp):
“ok.”

West Point (Cheryl Boujnida) (December 11, 2024, 11:13 AM):
“How long does it take to get a statement together? Think it will happen in the next hour?”

Boujnida circulated that draft statement about an hour later and Brinkerhoff approved it shortly thereafter.

West Point (Cheryl Boujnida) (December 11, 2024, 12:07 PM):
“A review of our records indicates Peter Hegseth was offered admission to West Point in 1999 but did not attend West Point. An incorrect statement involving Hegseths admission to the U.S. Military Academy was released by an employee on Dec. 10, 2024. Upon further review of an archived database, employees realized this statement was in error. Hegseth was offered acceptance to West Point as a prospective member of the class of 2003.The academy takes this situation seriously and apologizes for this administrative error. Please attribute the West Point Directorate of Communications.”

West Point (Theresa Brinkerhoff) (December 11, 2024, 12:07 PM):
“Cheryl Id prefer to take out the redundant words like West Point and uppercase Class Otherwise, lets get this off Use the below. I think it makes him sound a bit better.”

West Point (Cheryl Boujnida) (December 11, 2024, No Time Stamp):
“Agreed!”

West Point (Cheryl Boujnida) (December 11, 2024, No Time Stamp):
“The poor West Point employee.”

West Point’s communications team actively monitored news articles and tweets throughout the day, noting “a total of eight press queries” later that afternoon—a surprisingly small number of inquiries (almost of which came from right-leaning outlets) considering the high stakes of Hegseth’s confirmation—and at one point asking a reporter at the Washington Free Beacon to clarify a tweet about his recent phone call with the academy.

West Point (Cheryl Boujnida) (December 11, 2024, No Time Stamp):
“As of 2:30 p.m. today, we received a total of EIGHT press queries ( NY Post, The Daily Wire, The Federalist, The Washington Times, Fox (freelancer) CBS, Washington Examiner and Washington Free Beacon Press) from the following agencies in addition to ProPublica today. All news outlets were provided the following statement: (approved statement).”

—

West Point (Frank DeMaro) (December 11, 2024, No Time Stamp):
“In reference to your post on X I need to clarify when I mentioned to you on the phone there was some confusion, I was referring to our internal response nothing associated with ProPublica’s. I would like to ask that you correct your response to the post because I was not referring to ProPublica. You should have received our response from Cheryl. Have a good day.”

There only appear to have been two pieces of ‘hate mail’ resulting from the situation, one saying that the academy should feel “shame” for “lying about Mr. Hegseth’s acceptance” and another describing the academy as “a shadow of its former self” and expressing hope that Hegseth “defunds West Point and shuts it down when he becomes SecDef.”

Third Party (Name Redacted) (December 11-12, 2024, No Time Stamp):
“Shame on you for lying about Mr. Hegseth’s acceptance at the academy. I expect SO MUCH better.”

Third Party (Name Redacted) (December 11-12, 2024, No Time Stamp):
“West Point is a shadow of its former self. From changing the Duty Honor Country motto to lying about Pete Hegseth bring accept to West Point….there is nothing special about the place anymore. I hope Pete Hegseth defunds West Point and shuts it down when he becomes SecDef. ROTC officers can get RA appointments and fill the ranks going forward.”

On January 24, 2025, Hegseth was confirmed as U.S. Secretary of Defense by a vote of 50-50-1 with Vice President J.D. Vance casting the tie-breaking vote.

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