Claim:
Former president donald trump has not attended any of his children’s high school or college graduation ceremonies since April 2024.
Assessment:
Context:
With one possible exception, Trump was present at all of his children’s high school and college graduations, according to contemporary accounts and the recollections of other attendees.
In the early days of Donald Trump’s criminal fraud trial in New York in April 2024 – related to alleged secret payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels – the former president falsely claimed the judge informed him that he would not be able to attend his son Barron’s high school graduation.
Trump’s claim resulted in the widespread statement, captured in “copypasta“that Trump never attended any of his other children’s graduations. Most of the copied and pasted text only stated about high school events:
In ’96, Don Jr graduated from 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. At 12, Tiffany graduated from Viewpoint School. Trump did not attend…
Other variations of the claim included university graduations too.
These claims were false. They are contradicted by reports published at the time of graduations, by published remembrances of former students, and by memories of members of the Trump family.
Extensive research by Snopes provides documented evidence that Trump attended all of his children’s high school and college graduations, with the possible exception of Donald Trump Jr.’s graduation.
In this case, however, Donald Trump – who may have been busy with an event celebrating the launch of Trump’s World’s Fair Casino – visited his son’s school during the last semester, before his graduation, to give a Career Day talk. In her memoirs, Trump’s first wife, Ivan, he wrote about school events that “my rule was that someone – me, Donald, the nannies, my parents or a combination of them – had to be present at each one”.
Donald Trump Jr.
Donald Trump Jr. attended a private boarding school in Pennsylvania called The Hill School and graduated in May 1996. Snopes has not yet identified any reports placing the elder Trump at the graduation ceremony, but a widely circulated report 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 quotes the opening speech, given by “Mr. Donald Trump, father of Don ’96.”
On its front page, the newspaper took what it apparently considered the most valuable passage (as it cited no others) from the speech: “I think I know a little about life,” said Trump, who reportedly inherited $7 million from his father and moved onwards and upwards from there.
“You can’t give up,” Trump continued. “There will be times when you feel like there is no light at the end of the tunnel. I had moments like this and I had a choice: I could sit in the corner with my thumb in my mouth or I could fight. The advice for you is: punch hard and don’t take no for an answer.”
graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in May 2000. Presence of Donald Trump was noted by the Philadelphia Inquirer:
Donald Trump, his ex-wife Ivana, their children Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric, and six others rode in a limo to Old City’s Novelty for the Sunday brunch after Junior’s graduation from my father’s alma mater, the Wharton School. Donald the Lesser chose Bruce Cooper’s new place because he liked staying there.
Ivanka Trump
Ivanka attended high school at The Choate School – a private boarding school in Connecticut. A Choate student news publication 2016 recalled Donald Trump’s presence at his graduation ceremony, quoting colleague 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 now as a presidential candidate, of importance and self-satisfaction.
Ivanka graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in May 2004. The Philadelphia Inquirer also reported about Donald Trump’s presence at this graduation:
Ivanka Trump, a Wharton graduate and former model, will leave her Left Bank apartment for one that her father, Donald, bought for her a few months ago. Donald and ex-wife Ivana attended a ceremony at Wharton on Sunday where their daughter graduated. The proud parents also attended Penn’s graduation on Monday at Franklin Field.
Eric Trump
Like Don Jr., Eric Trump attended The Hill School, graduating in 2002. Trump’s presence at this graduation ceremony was described in 2017 in the city and state of New York. report about the life of Eric Trump:
When Donald and Ivana left him in 1997, as knowing parents whispered and giggled at the sight of the celebrity, Donald Trump asked Eric’s 13-year-old roommate, “Will you watch my son?”
Students remember that he would not return to the Hill until Eric’s graduation day in 2002, an event his mother missed, apparently because of the Cannes Film Festival and the Monaco Grand Prix, one student recalled and news reports suggest.
Eric Trump went to Georgetown University, graduating in 2006. Trump also attended this ceremony, according to a transfer report published in several newspapers:
Flash! Eric Trump (yes, those Trumps) graduated Saturday from Georgetown University with (what else?) a business degree, and the extended clan turned out en masse for the festivities: proud pop Donald and his wife Melania, the mother Ivana, older brother Donald Jr. and his fiancee Vanessa and his sister Ivanka.
tiffany trump
Tiffany Trump attended the private Viewpoint School in Los Angeles, graduating in 2012. In a Los Angeles Times op-ed Published in In November 2016, a colleague recalled Trump’s presence at the graduation:
Dear Donald,
I’m sure you don’t remember me. You sat in the third row at my high school graduation wearing a bright salmon pink tie. His daughter Tiffany and I spent six years together at Viewpoint School, a small bastion of privilege situated just off Mulholland Highway. When you watched the ceremony, you probably didn’t even imagine that it was possible for an undocumented student to receive the same prestigious degree as your daughter.
Tiffany Trump also graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, receiving her degree in May 2016. Her graduation, which took place during her father’s 2016 presidential run, was widely covered in the press, including this report from Yahoo News:
Donald Trump’s youngest daughter is officially a college graduate. 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 at her graduation today. In addition to Ivanka, Tiffany’s mother, Marla Maples, the presidential candidate, his current wife, Melania, and their son, Barron, were present.
Because Donlad Trump’s attendance is documented at all but one of his children’s graduation ceremonies, we classify claims that he did not attend any of these ceremonies as “False.”
Sources:
CORNEJO, Diana Delgado. “Opinion: For Donald Trump, from the undocumented immigrant who graduated alongside his 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.jornais.com, https://www.newspapers.com/article/democrat-and-chronicle-flash-eric-trump/145548553/.
Hagan-Brown ’18, Amy. “Choate Dad Runs for President.” The Choate News, April 8, 2016, https://thechoatenews.choate.edu/2016/04/08/choate-dad-runs-for-president/.
“Ivanka returning to New York.” Philadelphia Daily News, May 19, 2004, p. 39.jornais.com, https://www.newspapers.com/article/philadelphia-daily-news-ivanka-headin-b/145547724/.
“Locally connected.” The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 23, 2000, p. 42.jornais.com, https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-philadelphia-inquirer-locally-connec/145479490/.
“So rich, but still so clueless.” Tampa Bay Times, May 5, 1996, p. 105.jornais.com, https://www.newspapers.com/article/tampa-bay-times-so-rich-yet-still-so-cl/145602295/.
“The President’s Son: How Eric Became an Asset.” City and State of NY 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 World’s Fair Opens.” Atlantic City Press, May 15, 1996, p. 29.jornais.com, https://www.newspapers.com/article/press-of-atlantic-city-trump-worlds-fai/145602688/.
