Claim:
Former president Donald Trump did not attend any of his children’s high school or college graduation ceremonies in April 2024.
Rating:
Context:
With one possible exception, Trump was present at each of his children’s high school and college graduations, according to contemporary reports and the recollections of other attendees.
As Donald Trump’s criminal fraud trial begins in New York in April 2024 – linked to alleged secret payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels – the former president falsely declared the judge had informed him that he would not be able to attend his son Barron’s high school graduation.
Trump’s assertion gave rise to a widely spread assertion, captured in “copy paste“, that Trump never attended his other children’s graduations. Most of the copy-pasted text only covered the high school events:
In 1996, Don Jr graduated from The Hill School. His father did not attend the graduation. In 2000 Ivanka graduated from Choate. Trump did not attend the graduation. In 2002, Eric graduated. Trump did not attend the graduation. In 2012, Tiffany graduated from Viewpoint School. Trump was not present…
Other variations of the claim included university degrees as well.
These claims were false. These claims are contradicted by reports released at the time of graduation, by published recollections of former students, and by memoirs of members of the Trump family.
Extensive research by Snopes provides documented evidence of Trump’s participation in all of his children’s high school and college graduations, with the possible exception of Donald Trump Jr.’s high school graduation . in 1996.
In this case, however, Donald Trump – who may have been busy an event celebrating the launch of Trump’s World’s Fair Casino – visited her son’s school during his final semester, before graduation, to give a Career Day talk. In her memoirs, Trump’s first wife, Ivana, wrote about school events, “my rule was that someone—me, Donald, the nannies, my parents, or a combination—had to be present at each one.”
Donald Trump Jr.
Donald Trump Jr. attended a private Pennsylvania boarding school named The Hill School and graduated in May 1996. Snopes has not yet identified any reports placing the elder Trump at the graduation ceremony, but widely reported broadcast in May 1996. column Reviews of him show that he was a speaker at the school’s career day that spring:
A quarterly newspaper called Hill Ties is primarily devoted to Career Day ’96 and cites the keynote speech given by “Mr. Donald Trump, father of Don ’96.”
On its front page, the newspaper repeated what it apparently considered the most interesting passage (because it cited no other) from the speech: “I think I know a little about life,” Trump said , who inherited a sum of 7 million dollars from his father and from there, he moved onwards and upwards.
“You can’t give up,” Trump continued. “You’re going to have moments where you feel like there’s no light at the end of the tunnel. I had moments like that and I had a choice: I could sit in a corner with my thumb in the mouth, or I could fight. My advice to you is this: hit like hell and don’t take no for an answer.
Donald Trump Jr. graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in May 2000. Donald Trump’s presence was noted from the Philadelphia Inquirer:
Donald Trump, his ex-wife Ivana, their children Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric and six others traveled by limousine to the Old City novelty for Sunday brunch after Junior graduated from Dad’s alma mater, the Wharton School. Donald the Lesser chose Bruce Cooper’s new restaurant because he liked spending time there.
Ivanka Trump
Ivanka went to high school at the Choate School, a private boarding school in Connecticut. A Choate student news publication from 2016 recalled Donald Trump’s presence at his graduation ceremony, quoting classmate Stephen Farrell:
The only time I saw Donald Trump on campus was at graduation with his security guard. He conveyed exactly the same image he conveys today as a presidential candidate, that of importance and self-satisfaction.
Ivanka graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in May 2004. The Philadelphia Inquirer also reported on Donald Trump’s presence at this graduation:
Ivanka Trump, a Wharton graduate and former model, will leave her Left Bank apartment for the one her father, Donald, bought her a few months ago. Donald and his ex-wife Ivana attended a ceremony at Wharton on Sunday where their daughter graduated. The proud parents also attended Penn’s graduation Monday at Franklin Field.
Like Don Jr., Eric Trump attended the Hill School and graduated in 2002. Trump’s presence at this graduation ceremony was described in 2017 in a City & State New York. report on the life of Eric Trump:
When Donald and Ivana dropped him off in 1997, as parents who knew each other murmured and laughed at the sight of fame, Donald Trump asked Eric’s 13-year-old roommate: “Are you going to take care of my boy ?”
Students recall that he would not return to Hill until Eric’s graduation in 2002, an event his mother had missed, apparently for the Cannes Film Festival and the Monaco Grand Prix, one student recalls and suggests the media.
Eric Trump went to Georgetown University and graduated in 2006. Trump also attended that ceremony, according to a thread ratio published in various newspapers:
Flash! Eric Trump (yes, those Trumps) graduated from Georgetown University (what else?) with his business degree on Saturday, and the extended clan turned out en masse for the festivities: proud pop Donald and his wife Melania , his mother Ivana, his older brother Donald Jr. and his wife Vanessa and his sister Ivanka.
Tiffany Trump attended the private Viewpoint School in Los Angeles and graduated in 2012. In a Los Angeles Times opinion piece published In In November 2016, a classmate recalled Trump’s presence at graduation:
Dear Donald,
I’m sure you don’t remember me. You were sitting in the third row at my high school graduation, wearing a flashy salmon pink tie. Your daughter Tiffany and I had spent six years together at Viewpoint School, a little bastion of privilege nestled along Mulholland Highway. Watching the ceremony, you probably didn’t think it was possible for an undocumented student to receive the same prestigious diploma as your daughter.
Tiffany Trump is also a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated in May 2016. Her graduation, which occurred during her father’s 2016 presidential campaign, was widely covered by the press, including this report from Yahoo News:
Donald Trump’s youngest daughter has officially graduated from college. Tiffany Trump, whose mother is Marla Maples, received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania on Sunday. …
Ivanka shared a photo of the siblings on Instagram with the caption: “So proud of my beautiful, brilliant sister @tiffanytrump on her graduation today. We love you all so much.” Besides Ivanka, Tiffany’s mother, Marla Maples, was in attendance, as well as the presidential candidate, his current wife, Melania, and their son, Barron.
Given that Donlad Trump’s attendance is documented except for one of his children’s graduation ceremonies, we consider claims that he did not attend any of these ceremonies to be “false.”
Sources:
Cornejo, Diana Delgado. “Advice: To Donald Trump, from the undocumented immigrant who graduated alongside your daughter.” Los Angeles TimesNovember 8, 2016, https://www.latimes.com/opinion/opinion-la/la-ol-undocumented-donald-trump-tiffany-20161108-story.html.
“Flash! Eric Trump.” Democrat and Chronicle, May 24, 2006, p. 2. newspapers.com, https://www.newspapers.com/article/democrat-and-chronicle-flash-eric-trump/145548553/.
Hagan-Brown ’18, Amy. “Choate Dad is running for president.” The Choate News, April 8, 2016, https://thechoatenews.choate.edu/2016/04/08/choate-dad-runs-for-president/.
“Ivanka is returning to New York.” Philadelphia Daily News, May 19, 2004, p. 39. newspapers.com, https://www.newspapers.com/article/philadelphia-daily-news-ivanka-headin-b/145547724/.
“Connected locally.” The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 23, 2000, p. 42. newspapers.com, https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-philadelphia-inquirer-locally-connec/145479490/.
“So rich, but still so helpless.” Tampa Bay Times, May 5, 1996, p. 105. newspapers.com, https://www.newspapers.com/article/tampa-bay-times-so-rich-yet-still-so-cl/145602295/.
“The President’s Son: How Eric Became a Trump.” New York City and State, September 29, 2017, https://www.cityandstateny.com/personality/2017/09/the-presidents-son-how-eric-became-a-trump/181794/.
“Tiffany Trump wore Ivanka Trump flats to her college graduation.” Yahoo Life, May 16, 2016, https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/tiffany-trump-wore-ivanka-trump-flats-to-her-173354396.html.
Trump, Ivana. Raising Trump. Simon and Schuster, 2017.
“Trump’s World’s Fair opens.” Atlantic City Press, May 15, 1996, p. 29. newspapers.com, https://www.newspapers.com/article/press-of-atlantic-city-trump-worlds-fai/145602688/.
yahoo
