Fake News: Fordham University Transcript Showing Trump 1.28 GPA Is Obvious Forgery

Fact Check

  • by: Maarten Schenk

STORY UPDATED: check for updates below.

Fake News: Fordham University Transcript Showing Trump 1.28 GPA Is Obvious Forgery

Did President Donald J. Trump's report card or transcript from his days at Fordham University leak and does it show a paltry 1.28 GPA? No, that's not true: the image that went viral in early March 2019 is an obvious forgery.

An example of the image can be seen in this Facebook post (archived here):

Here are two examples of the image we found floating around online:

trumptranscriptforgery.jpg

trumptranscriptforgery2.jpg

The most obvious sign the image is fake is the address: Donald J. Trump, 85-15 Wareham Place, Jamaica, N.Y. 11432. That is indeed Trump's childhood home but he only lived there until he was 4 years old (source: NY Times). Why would his college transcript have that address on it?

Trump attended Fordham University for two years starting in 1964 according to his biography. Note that the supposed transcript does not mention any year or date either, this is the second thing that stands out: transcripts or report cards are usually dated.

The third thing that makes this image suspect is that it appears to be using the Arial font, which was only designed in 1982:

trumptranscriptforgery3.png

No reliable source has made any mention of Trump releasing his college transcripts and it is clear this document has too many issues with it to be authentic.

We have contacted Fordham University and they provided us with following official statement via their Assistant Vice President for Communications, Bob Howe:

The image is a forgery, not an actual Fordham University transcript. Fordham University respects the privacy of its students and alumni, and follows federal law regarding the handling and release of academic records.

Updates:

  • 2019-03-08T15:51:18Z 2019-03-08T15:51:18Z
    Added statement from Fordham University.

  Maarten Schenk

Lead Stories co-founder Maarten Schenk is our resident expert on fake news and hoax websites. He likes to go beyond just debunking trending fake news stories and is endlessly fascinated by the dazzling variety of psychological and technical tricks used by the people and networks who intentionally spread made-up things on the internet.  He can often be found at conferences and events about fake news, disinformation and fact checking when he is not in his office in Belgium monitoring and tracking the latest fake article to go viral.

Read more about or contact Maarten Schenk

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