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Fact check: Trump fordham grades
Executive Summary
An image circulating online purporting to be Donald Trump’s Fordham University transcript and showing a 1.28 GPA has been identified as a forgery by multiple fact-checking organizations and by Fordham University itself; there is no verified public record confirming those grades [1] [2] [3]. Historical reporting and testimony also establish that Trump directed legal threats through his attorney to prevent his schools from releasing academic records, and that school officials have previously concealed or restricted access to his transcripts, which complicates independent verification but does not make the circulated image authentic [4] [5] [6] [7] [8].
1. What claim spread and why it matters: The fake transcript allegation that grabbed headlines
A widely shared image claiming to be Donald Trump’s Fordham report card asserted a 1.28 GPA, a sensational figure that would be newsworthy if authentic. Multiple independent fact-checks concluded the image is fabricated; Fordham University told investigators the image is not a genuine transcript and cited privacy laws that prevent public disclosure of student records without consent [1] [2] [3]. The accuracy of academic records can influence public perceptions of a public figure’s qualifications, which is why verification matters: the institutions that could confirm or deny such records—colleges and schools—are constrained by federal privacy rules and by legal threats directed at them, making the lack of publicly available original documents a central part of the story [1] [5].
2. Independent verification: What outlets found when they checked the image and metadata
Fact-checkers from USA TODAY, the Daily Caller, and Reuters all reached the same conclusion that the shared image is not an authentic Fordham transcript and flagged specific problems, including incorrect address information on the document and confirmation from Fordham that the file is a forgery [1] [2] [3]. Reuters noted the address on the image was inconsistent with Trump’s known residence timeline, which is a concrete discrepancy undermining the document’s credibility [3]. These investigations relied on statements from the university and document examination rather than an original transcript produced by Fordham, emphasizing that no verified transcript has been publicly released and that current evidence points toward fabrication rather than mislabeling or a clerical error [1] [2] [3].
3. Legal and institutional barriers: Why we don’t have independent access to Trump’s grades
Federal student privacy laws (commonly known as FERPA) prevent institutions like Fordham from releasing students’ academic records without their consent; Fordham reiterated this when confirming the image’s inauthenticity and explaining why it could not release an original transcript publicly [1] [2]. Reporting and testimony show Trump’s camp, through attorney Michael Cohen, actively pressured schools not to disclose records and warned of legal consequences, and some schools complied by blocking access or hiding records, which creates a historical pattern of suppression around Trump’s records and contributes to the information gap investigators face today [5] [6] [7] [8]. These actions do not validate fabricated documents, but they do help explain why independent verification is difficult and why disputed claims gain traction.
4. Patterns from past episodes: Concealment, threats, and institutional responses
Past reporting indicates school officials have sometimes acquiesced to requests from Trump or his associates to withhold or limit access to transcripts; New York Military Academy officials were reported to have hidden records in 2011 after public pressure, and Cohen testified about threats to Fordham and other schools to prevent releases of grades or standardized test scores [6] [7] [8] [5]. That documented pattern of concealment and legal intimidation provides context: it explains why authentic primary records are scarce in the public domain and why fabricated documents can circulate without immediate, straightforward means for independent parties to contrast them with originals [6] [7] [5]. The presence of past institutional compliance does not prove the content of any specific forged image.
5. What is established, what remains unknown, and how to evaluate future claims
It is established that the circulating Fordham transcript image is a forgery and that Fordham confirmed it is not an authentic document; it is also established that federal privacy protections and earlier legal threats limited schools from releasing Trump’s records, leading to persistent gaps in the public record [1] [2] [3] [5]. What remains unknown is the precise content of any authentic, comprehensive Fordham academic transcript for Trump because no verified original has been released publicly; absent that primary document, claims about specific GPAs or grades cannot be confirmed and should be regarded as unproven [1] [3] [4]. Future claims should be evaluated against institutional statements, document provenance, and corroboration from original records or authorized releases, with attention to potential political or partisan motivations behind both dissemination and suppression [2] [8].