Days After Urging Obama to Show Grades, Trump Ordered His Own Records Buried
In 2011, Trump demanded Obama’s academic records but secretly moved to bury his own high school transcripts.
Jesusemen Oni / VOA/Wikimedia Commons
Days after President Donald Trump publicly challenged Barack Obama to reveal his academic records in 2011, an order was reportedly issued to bury Trump’s own high school grades. This revelation sheds new light on the longstanding dispute over the legitimacy of both men’s academic credentials.
Trump’s 2011 Challenge to Obama’s Academic Records
In April 2011, while considering a run for the Republican presidential nomination, Donald Trump publicly questioned Barack Obama’s academic qualifications. Speaking to The Associated Press, Trump stated, “I heard he was a terrible student, terrible. How does a bad student go to Columbia and then to Harvard?” He added, “Let him show his records.” Despite these claims, Trump provided no evidence to support his accusations.
Obama’s academic history tells a different story. According to CBS News and AP reports at the time, Obama transferred from Occidental College and graduated from Columbia University in 1983 with a political science degree. He went on to graduate magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1991, where he also served as the first Black president of the Harvard Law Review.
The Effort to Conceal Trump’s Own Academic Records
Shortly after Trump’s public challenge to Obama, an unusual directive came from the superintendent of New York Military Academy, where Trump attended high school. Evan Jones, the headmaster at the time, recalled being instructed to locate and help bury Trump’s academic records. Jones said the superintendent had been “accosted by prominent, wealthy alumni of the school who were Mr. Trump’s friends” and was told, “You need to go grab that record and deliver it to me.”
Further reporting by The Washington Post revealed that Trump, as a private citizen, allegedly threatened his high school, colleges, and the College Board to prevent release of his grades and SAT scores. Notably, Trump never released transcripts from Fordham University or the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
A Pattern of Accusations and Concealment
Observers and critics have noted a recurring pattern in Trump’s public life: he accuses others, such as Obama, of hiding information while engaging in similar concealment himself. The Washington Post pointed out that Trump fought vigorously to block publication of a book by his niece, Mary L. Trump, through public pressure and lawsuits in 2020.
The contentious relationship between Trump and Obama stretches beyond academic disputes. For instance, in February 2026, Trump refused to apologize for a racist video depicting the Obamas that was posted on his social media platform, Truth Social, blaming a staffer and stating, “I didn’t make a mistake.”
Why the Debate Over Admissions Still Matters
The dispute over academic records has taken on renewed significance as the Trump administration intensifies scrutiny of college admissions policies. The Department of Justice has accused several University of California schools, including UCLA’s law school, UC Berkeley Law, and UC San Diego’s medical school, of illegal racial discrimination in admissions. Affirmative action has been banned in college admissions since a 2023 Supreme Court ruling, though schools may still consider applicants’ backgrounds in broader contexts.
This makes questions about who truly “earned” admission to elite institutions a live political issue. Critics highlight the irony of President Trump scrutinizing admissions merit while his own academic records remain concealed.
Neither Barack Obama nor Donald Trump has ever released full college transcripts to the public. While Obama’s 2008 campaign chose not to publish his records, Trump’s transcripts have reportedly been subject to deliberate efforts to keep them hidden. This asymmetry fuels ongoing debate and scrutiny surrounding the legitimacy of Trump’s claims and academic history.
The revelations about Trump’s attempts to bury his academic records add complexity to a long-running feud, underscoring the contested nature of information transparency among public figures.
