Donald Trump‘s academic history has always been a matter of public interest. However, the Republican leader is not too keen about releasing it. Back in 2019, when he was serving his first term in office, Trump instructed his legal team to threaten people from the past who had knowledge about his academic records. From the representatives of his high school to the college board, he emphasized imposing jail time had they leaked his grades, achievements, and potential failures as well.
Since then, he has been able to keep his academic history completely hidden using the fear of legal action. However, the bigger questions is what does he actually wants to hide and how has he managed to maintain the decree till date?
The truth about his bizarre order was first revealed by his former attorney, Michael Cohen. About six years ago, he claimed that the 78-year-old President forced him to warn his past educational facilities about the risks if they were to leak his records. This revelation was a part of Cohen’s Congress testimony. The 58-year-old attorney also presented attendees with a sample letter he sent under the U.S. President’s instruction.
According to GQ, Trump’s lawyer threatened the President of Fordham University, where the POTUS attended for two years. Later, he completed his bachelor’s degree from Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Although, the college board and the Pennsylvania University declined to comment on receiving Trump’s letter, other representatives from his high school confirmed the same in Congress.
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However, sending this letter seems like an unnecessary act, given releasing a student’s academic record without their permission was already deemed illegal in the United States. The 1974 Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act has prohibited this for a long time. Having said that, it doesn’t really stop leaks from happening at times, especially when it comes to the records of a high-profile and controversial political leader like Donald Trump. Maybe Trump was right to be paranoid, given that the educational discrepancies from his early life had already sparked interest.
Despite gloating about being “first in his class” at the Wharton, the school’s grading procedure says otherwise. They base honors on GPA and only students with a 3.40, are eligible for the prestigious achievement. However, as known, Trump didn’t even graduate with honors, which means he failed to secure a 3.40 GPA.
RT #Contestconvention Trump says he graduated w/ honors in 1968 from Wharton. Here’s the list &he’s nowhere on it! pic.twitter.com/ygQoqWIhNj
— Patty 🌻🇺🇸🌵 (@littlebytesnews) June 10, 2016
However, this might not have been a big deal if he hadn’t poked fun at his Democratic rival Barack Obama in the past over his alleged “lack of education.” Both the U.S. Presidents attended lesser-competitive schools for two years and then transferred to Ivy League facilities to complete their bachelor’s degrees. Although none of them graduated with honors, Obama went on to graduate magna cum laude from Harvard Law, while Trump didn’t.
Even though the Republican leader himself faced speculations that his own businessman father’s connection got him into Wharton, that didn’t stop him from publicly questioning Obama’s entry into the Ivy League.
As many continue to say, maybe Donald Trump is just projecting his own messy academic records, and maybe that’s why he continues to pursue extreme lengths to protect them from being released to the public.
