Posted on 09/30/2025 8:23:40 AM PDT by Signalman
The cheating scandal surrounding U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) and her time at the U.S. Naval Academy has widened after her husband, Jason, also appears to have been implicated, according to documents reviewed by the New York Post.
Last week, a bombshell report from the New Jersey Globe revealed that Sherrill was barred from walking with her class at the U.S. Naval Academy in 1994 due to her implication in a sweeping cheating scandal that implicated more than 130 midshipmen. A copy of the commencement program from May 25, 1994, which was obtained by the outlet, did not include Sherrill’s name.
The congresswoman told The Globe that she was barred from the ceremony after failing to report classmates who had been involved in the scandal. “I didn’t turn in some of my classmates, so I didn’t walk, but graduated and was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Navy, serving for nearly ten years with the highest level of distinction and honor,” Sherrill said.
However, Sherrill’s campaign rejected a request for a public inspection of any disciplinary records dating back to her time at the academy. The congresswoman’s alleged involvement in the scandal has become a central point of the closely watched race, as she has routinely made her military service a central theme of her campaign.
“Why wasn’t Mikie Sherrill allowed to walk at her Naval Academy graduation? She admits knowing about a cheating scandal but won’t release the records that could tell the full story. Voters deserve the truth,” Ciattarelli posted on X Monday alongside the hashtag, “ReleaseTheRecords.”
The scandal revolved around answers to an electrical engineering exam that were shared by some midshipmen with their classmates in 1992. Two dozen of Sherrill’s classmates were expelled, and one of those involved said in 2002 that he thought more than 400 out of the 663 midshipmen who took the exam had seen copies of it in advance.
The revelations generated national outrage at the time, leading to congressional hearings and an internal investigation, which ultimately lead to the resignation of Rear Admiral Thomas C. Lynch, the superintendent at Annapolis, and widespread debate over the storied academy’s code of conduct. The academy subsequently undertook significant reforms to strengthen its academic integrity system and restore public trust.
According to an explosive follow-up report from the New York Post, Sherrill’s husband, Jason Hedberg, was among about four dozen midshipmen who about four dozen midshipmen who sued senior officials at the Naval Academy, Navy and Pentagon in 1994 in an attempt to block the Honor Board at Annapolis from deciding whether they should be dismissed from the academy.
“In compliance with the orders of their superior military officers, each named plaintiff was compelled to make inculpatory statements to Navy Inspector General investigators,” read the complaint, which argued that the cadets were denied due process.
Details of any “inculpatory statements” by Hedberg are unclear, though his name does, however, appear in the academy’s 1994 commencement program. This suggests that he, unlike his wife, was cleared to take part in exercises roughly three months after the lawsuit was filed.
A source from a “rival campaign” cast doubt on Sherrill’s claims of only being barred for refusing to turn in classmates while speaking with the New York Post. “Nobody, including Mikie Sherrill, was barred from graduation ceremonies for covering for their friends,”the individual, who has reviewed the documents, claimed. “That’s a bunch of bulls***. Midshipmen were, however, punished for lying to Naval investigators.”
Sherrill — who has continuously refused to release her academy disciplinary records — has denied any wrongdoing. “The fact [GOP candidate] Jack Ciattarelli and MAGA Republicans are going after Mikie’s family is sick and desperate — Jason graduated [and] served honorably as a Naval Officer,” Sherril’s campaign communications director Sean Higgins told The Post.
The scandal erupted as the New Jersey gubernatorial race tightens significantly. One recent survey from National Research found Ciattarelli leading 46 percent-45 percent in a two-way race, a figure that includes a 21-point lead among voters not registered with either major party. That poll was followed up by a survey from Emerson College on Wednesday, which found the race tied.
These polls come after Sherill held a sizable 8.8 percent lead in the RealClearPolitics polling average last week, which has since declined to just above six percent.
She’s a TYPICAL DEMOCRAT....a LIAR and a CHEATER! Iy’s what they do!!
Honor code?.....Honor code!.......I ain’t got no stinkin honor code. I don’t need no stinkin honor code... I’m a Democrat.
A copy of the commencement program from May 25, 1994, which
was obtained by the news outlet, did not include Sherrill’s name.
The Democrat was quick to whitewash the cheating story, telling The Globe that she was barred from the ceremony b/c she "failed to report her classmates" who had been involved in the scandal.
BECAUSE
Cheating, lying. or failing to report same are all considered serious charges that can get you kicked out of the service academies. I had a friend in the USAF Academy in Colorado Springs.
I am curious why she was allowed to get her diploma.
Not reporting cheating is itself a serious offense in the academies. Coverups and lying can get you kicked out.
You want more further hypocrisy from this woman. Two of her children were accepted at the Naval Academy at the same time. This stuff just makes your head spin. Oh, I’m sure Rep. Sherrill’s political status had nothing to do with this, right?
“ I am curious why she was allowed to get her diploma.”
Perhaps because there were so many people involved that it would have looked bad for the Naval Academy to expel all of them.
I follow the Tour de France. There is some way that cyclists get dropped from the Tour if they are more than a certain amount of time behind the winner (the number 10?) that day. if too many people would be dropped from the Tour at one time, then they waive that rule.
Paging Scott Pressler (TPUSA). He’s the one who chased the Quaker Votes last year in PA to get Trump the win in PA.
I think he should go to NJ and help with the Gov’s race and chase those voters to vote Republican.
<>which argued that the cadets were denied due process.<>
That’s right. Outside of UCMJ violations, the strictly honor code violations are not subject to 14A due process. Don’t ask to be read Miranda rights for honor code infractions.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.