{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cotton-to-west-point-find-source-of-trump-nominee-smears", "Cotton to West Point: Find Source of Trump Nominee Smears", "2024-12-11", "2024", "2024-12", "Republican", "Senate", "AR", "Tom Cotton", "C001095", "www.cotton.senate.gov", "cotton", "https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases", "scraper", "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE\n\nContact: Caroline Tabler or Patrick McCann (202) 224-2353\n\nDecember 11, 2024\n\nCotton to West Point: Find Source of Trump Nominee Smears\n\nWashington, D.C. \u2014 Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) today sent a letter to U.S. Military Academy Superintendent Lieutenant General Steven Gilland urging a prompt investigation into the false information fed to a left-wing media outlet by a U.S. Military Academy official.\n\nIn part, Senator Cotton wrote:\n\n\u201cThis statement is incorrect; not only did Mr. Hegseth apply, but he was also accepted to the West Point Class of 2003. Worse, the statement may violate Mr. Hegseth\u2019s rights under the Privacy Act of 1974 by revealing protected personal information. If true, it also demonstrates egregiously bad judgment to share such information about the nominee to be Secretary of Defense with a known liberal outlet like ProPublica.\u201d\n\nFull text of the letter may be found here and below.\n\nDecember 11, 2024\n\nLieutenant General Steven W. Gilland, USA\n\nSuperintendent, United States Military Academy\n\n606 Thayer Rd.\n\nWest Point, NY 10996\n\nDear Lieutenant General Gilland,\n\nI\u2019m concerned about reports that a U.S. Military Academy official has provided false information to a left-wing reporter writing a derogatory hit piece about Pete Hegseth, the nominee for Secretary of Defense.\n\nI understand that a civilian public-affairs officer, Theresa Brinkerhoff, informed a reporter that Mr. Hegseth didn\u2019t apply to West Point, as he has said publicly in the past. This statement is incorrect; not only did Mr. Hegseth apply, but he was also accepted to the West Point Class of 2003. Worse, the statement may violate Mr. Hegseth\u2019s rights under the Privacy Act of 1974 by revealing protected personal information. If true, it also demonstrates egregiously bad judgment to share such information about the nominee to be Secretary of Defense with a known liberal outlet like ProPublica.\n\nCould you please promptly look into this matter? Perhaps there\u2019s an honest mistake here, though I can\u2019t imagine what it might be. But I also can\u2019t imagine this action was authorized or known to the West Point leadership.\n\nSincerely,\n\nTom Cotton\n\nUnited States Senator\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T22:13:55Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cotton-to-west-point-find-source-of-trump-nominee-smears"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7647289894521236, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}