Why Donald Trump doesn't want his academic records to be released

In 2019 - three years into his first term as US President - Donald Trump ordered a lawyer to threaten representatives of his high school, college and college board with jail time if they were ever to release his academic record.

Since then, the grades and achievements - and possibly, failures - that the Republican leader bagged in his younger years have remained totally under wraps out of fear of legal action.

But how was Trump able to order such a decree? How has it lasted until this day? And more importantly, what is he trying to hide?

Trump's orders

It was the 78-year-old's former attorney Michael Cohen that revealed six years ago, he'd been forced to warn Trump's past educational facilities about the risks they'd face if the were to expose his schooling achievements.

The confession was made as part of his testimony to Congress, with Cohen, now 58, even providing attendees with an example of a letter he sent under Trump's ruling.

The note heard the lawyer threaten the president of Fordham University - where Trump attended for two years, prior to being transferred to the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, to complete his bachelor's degree.

Representatives from Trump's high school also confirmed in Congress that they'd received an identical letter.

Both the University of Pennsylvania and the College Board declined to comment at the time.

It's important to note at this time, however, that sending such threatening letters was a largely unnecessary act.

Trump's former attorney previously revealed the politician had made him send threatening letters (Cheriss May/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

In fact, disclosing the academic record of a student without their permission was already illegal in the US, and had been for a long time, under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974.

That isn't to say leaks don't happen, however.

And for someone as controversial and high-profile as Trump, maybe he was right to be paranoid - especially considering the amount educational discrepancies surrounding his early life that are already in the public eye...

Comparisons to Obama's record

In the past, Trump has poked fun at former Democratic representative and 44th President, Barack Obama's alleged lack of education.

It turns out, however, that Trump's isn't too dissimilar. Both he and Obama, 63, attended lesser-competitive schools for two years before being transferred to Ivy League facilities (UoP for Trump, and Columbia for Obama) to achieve their bachelor's degrees.

And though neither of the politicians graduated with honours, father-of-two Obama went on to attend graduate magna cum laude from Harvard Law. Trump, meanwhile, did not.

In the years since, Trump has publicly questioned how Obama could have ever gained entry to an Ivy League school - despite mass speculation over the fact that his own businessman father's connections got him into Pennsylvania.

Could the Republican be projecting? We can't possibly say...

Trump regularly mocked Obama over his education (ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)

First class 'lies'

The father-of-five has ceaselessly gloated over being 'first in his class' at the Wharton School at Pennsylvania. In reality, however - as we say - he didn't even graduate with honours.

The facility bases honours on GPA (grade point average, for those reading from the UK), and only students that obtain a 3.40 can obtain the prestigious achievement.

This means Trump didn't even score this, let alone come out top of his class.

Again, this white lie wouldn't be such a big deal if the controversial Apprentice front-man hadn't previously ridiculed Obama over his GPA, without even knowing it.