According to a confirmation obtained by Breitbart News’ Pentagon Correspondent Kristina Wong, a West Point spokesman said Thursday that Dr. Rasheed Hosein, a professor of Middle East history who was responsible for the academic development of Lt. Rapone, has been placed on administrative leave.
“We are unable to provide information regarding administrative actions but can confirm that the details are unrelated to 2nd Lieutenant Rapone,” the spokesman told Breitbart News.
On Wednesday TruNews received an auto-reply email from Dr. Hosein’s official West Point account saying “User is on Administrative Leave”.
According to his official U.S. Military Academy bio page, Dr. Hosein began teaching at West Point in July 2011 after serving as the director of Public Education for the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Chicago, where he also received his doctorate degree in Islamic history.
Dr. Hosein also served as a “Muslim Lay Chaplain” at West Point, the Officer in Charge of the Muslim Cadet Association, and Emeritus Facility Adviser of Phi Alpha Theta, a national history honor society of which Lt. Rapone was a member.
Reached by Facebook messenger on Wednesday, Dr. Hosein confirmed to TruNews Correspondent Edward Szall that he was “very close” to Lt. Rapone.
Lt. Rapone’s sister posted a photo of Dr. Hosein posing with her brother on his graduation day with the caption: “One of his close professora”. The photo was part of a 56 picture album posted to her Facebook on the day of Lt. Rapone’s graduation, including photos which appear to have been taken in the same setting as the West Point graduates infamous photo wearing an undershirt with Marxist Che Guevara’s face printed on the front.
According to her LinkedIn and Facebook profiles, she works as a marketing coordinator for Christian online advertising company Salem Web Network, a subsidiary of Salem Communications, and supports causes such as amnesty for illegal immigrants.
According to past social media postings from both Lt. Rapone and Dr. Hosein the two traveled together to India in March, 2014 on what is called a “staff ride”, and maintained a close relationship until his graduation in May 2016.
On March 20, 2014, Dr. Hosein posted a picture on his Facebook standing next to Lt. Rapone, who was wearing a colored turban and a long white tunic. The picture was captioned: “The brothers are gonna work it out.”
As documented extensively by Breitbart News and Daily Caller National Security Correspodent Jonah Bennett, Lt. Rapone’s posts, which Dr. Hosein would have had access to view due to the fact that he and the former cadet have been personally friends on Facebook since 2014, grew increasingly pro-Muslim, pro-Communist and anti-government during that time period.
On August 19, 2014, Lt. Rapone posted a picture of he and Dr. Hosein in a West Point classroom with another unnamed soldier, captioning it, “The Intelligentsia”, and tagging his close mentor’s Facebook account.
In February 2016, Dr. Hosein brought Lt. Rapone and other Phi Alpha Theta members to a national conference held in Orlando, Florida.
An officer currently assigned to West Point as a staff advisor told TruNews Wednesday that as a colleague they trust Dr. Hosein and have not witnessed the professor do or say anything inappropriate during their time working together.
The senior officer, who asked to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter, confirmed he was serving at West Point at the time of Lt. Rapone’s trip to India and his 2016 graduation from the academy.
TruNews has also learned that West Point’s leadership was aware of Lt. Rapone’s anti-American beliefs as early as 2014, but made the decision to counsel him formally instead of removing him from the USMA.
According to West Point’s established “Honor Code” and the Uniform Code of Military Justice every cadet and staff member has a duty to report any violations, including anti-American political statements posted online and made in person.
According to publicly available records, Lt. Rapone began making political statements as early as 2014, and numerous military service members not only ignored his actions, but even joined him in support.
West Point’s Public Affairs Office, as well as Dr. Hosein and Lt. Rapone, declined to comment on this report.
