Doctored College Transcript Shows Trump’s “Failing” Grades
PLUS: Bill Gates Conspiracy Theory: Vaccines and Abortion; Republicans for Harris? Both Left and Right Get It Wrong
Welcome to Reality Check, your inside look at how misinformation online is undermining trust — and who’s behind it.
Today:
Fake college report card shows Trump with poor grades
Double whopper: Conspiracy theorists claim Bill Gates is pushing COVID vaccines that induce abortions
Unsupported: Mike Pence and GOP strategist Karl Rove did not endorse Harris
And more…
Today’s newsletter was edited by Jack Brewster, Eric Effron, and Sofia Rubinson.
1. Flunking Out? Doctored Transcript Shows Trump with Failing Grades
By Sarah Komar
What happened: Liberal social media users are sharing a document claiming to be Donald Trump’s unimpressive report card from a semester at New York’s Fordham University. University officials have long said the document is fake.
Context: Trump attended Fordham for two years (1964-1966) before transferring to the University of Pennsylvania.
In March 2019, Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, testified before the U.S. House Oversight Committee that Trump had instructed him to send letters to his former schools, warning them not to release his academic records.
Following that testimony, liberal social media users began circulating the doctored report card. Now the false narrative is back in play.
A closer look: Anti-Trump social media users revived the false narrative ahead of the 2024 election, citing the forged document as evidence that Trump lacks the intellectual capacity and mental fitness for the presidency.
The document features the Fordham University seal, Trump’s name, his childhood home address, and a list of five course grades: a D-plus, three C-minuses, and an F. A total GPA of 1.28 out of 4.0 is shown below the list.
Pro-Harris X user @mjfree shared the image of the forged report card on Oct. 1, 2024, captioned, “Ummm… who’s not very smart, @realDonaldTrump.” The post received nearly 250,000 views.
Actually: Fordham officials have repeatedly said that the document is not authentic.
A March 8, 2019, post from the official Fordham University X account stated: “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.”
In October 2024, after the image began spreading among liberal social media users again, a Fordham spokesperson reiterated this statement in an email to Reuters (NewsGuard Trust Score: 100/100).
Trump has not released his grades or transcript from his time at Fordham.
2024 U.S. Election Misinformation Monitoring Center
Our team of analysts is keeping you up to date as we cover misinformation surrounding this year’s U.S. presidential election. See below for the latest misinformation claims we’ve identified, and visit NewsGuard’s 2024 U.S. Election Misinformation Monitoring Center for detailed debunks of each claim.
MYTH: A video shows a man named Matthew Metro claiming to be a victim of sexual abuse by Tim Walz in 1997
MYTH: An image of Donald Trump's Fordham University report card shows that he received a 1.28 GPA one semester
Misinformation Quiz: Want to see how well you can distinguish fact from fiction? Select whether you think this narrative is real or fake to test your misinformation spotting skills. Scroll to the bottom to see if you were correct with NewsGuard’s fact check!
2. Conspiracy Theorists Get Millions of Views Demanding Bill Gates’ Arrest Over False Claim that Abortion Drugs Found in COVID Vaccines
By John Gregory
What happened: Health misinformation sources are spinning a baseless conspiracy that “abortion drugs” have been found in COVID-19 vaccines, a discovery they claim justifies the arrest (yes, the arrest) of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates.
Context: Gates, a major advocate for vaccines and global health, has been a frequent target of conspiracy theories, especially regarding COVID-19 vaccines. His philanthropic involvement in public health initiatives has made him a focal point for misinformation.
A closer look: The narrative originated on Oct. 9, 2024, with U.S. conspiracy website The People’s Voice (Trust Score: 0/100). In videos posted on X and Rumble and an article on its website, The People’s Voice stated that Japanese scientists are “revealing shocking discoveries that some [COVID] vaccines contain abortion drugs designed for depopulation.”
Within five days, the X post had garnered 2.3 million views, while the Rumble video accumulated 154,000 views.
The People’s Voice never specified which “abortion drug” was supposedly found in the COVID vaccines or how it was supposedly discovered.
Instead, it cited an unnamed “Gates Foundation insider” who referred to earlier, debunked myths claiming that “thousands of children were sterilized” during Gates-backed vaccination campaigns in Kenya and India. The source also claimed that these events were “trial runs for the mRNA vaccine roll-out in the Western world.”
Actually: As NewsGuard has previously reported, there is abundant evidence from peer-reviewed medical studies showing that COVID vaccines do not affect fertility and do not increase the risk of pregnancy complications such as miscarriages and stillbirths.
Collectively, these studies have examined data from millions of successful pregnancies among vaccinated mothers, proving there are no abortion-inducing ingredients hidden in the vaccines.
The People’s Voice article and X post also claimed, without evidence, that the Japanese government’s COVID Task Force was investigating Gates and “swiftly uncovering his crimes,” declaring: “It’s time for the world to unite and bring him to justice!”
Some supporters of this false narrative volunteered to help arrest Gates. John O’Looney, a British funeral director who has spread misinformation about COVID vaccines, said in an Oct. 10, 2024, repost of the People’s Voice video to his 85,000 X followers, “Call me when you're ready to make your move please. I can tell you no one would be more committed than me to getting him.”
By the numbers: The People’s Voice has advanced 123 false narratives in NewsGuard’s database of provably false claims. It was the origin of 18 of them.
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3. Brand Victims of the Week: Ads for Adidas, Bloomingdale’s, Capital One, Samsung, Subway, Ulta Beauty, and Others Fund False Claim that Walz ‘Groomed’ a Foreign Exchange Student
In this Reality Check feature, NewsGuard identifies global brands that support the spread of misinformation by unintentionally funneling programmatic advertising dollars to sites that repeatedly peddle false claims. Unless advertisers use inclusion or exclusion lists to place their programmatic ads, these ads will appear on websites regardless of their trustworthiness.
This week: A NewsGuard analyst based in the U.S. was shown programmatic ads for 13 major brands, including Adidas, Bloomingdale’s, Capital One, Samsung, Subway, Ulta Beauty, Macy’s, and Under Armour, on an article making a false accusation against vice presidential nominee Tim Walz published by GraniteGrok.com (Trust Score: 37.5/100). GraniteGrok.com is a conservative news site that has repeatedly advanced false or egregiously misleading claims about U.S. elections. The October 2024 article claimed that Walz “groomed” a foreign exchange student from Kazakhstan when he was a teacher in 2004. This claim has been debunked by NewsGuard.
Representatives for Adidas, Bloomingdale’s, Capital One, Samsung, Subway, Ulta Beauty, Macy’s, and Under Armour did not immediately respond to NewsGuard’s emailed requests for comment.
(Disclosure: NewsGuard is among the companies that license data that would help advertisers only advertise on reliable, brand suitable news sites.)
If you see something, say something
If you see or hear something that you think may be provably false, please alert NewsGuard via realitycheck@newsguardtech.com and we'll do our best to get to the bottom of it. Note: Tips should not include content that you simply disagree with, however strongly.
4. One more thing … Phony Endorsements: Both Sides Falsely Claim High-Profile Republicans Endorse Harris
What happened: Both pro-Trump and pro-Harris social media users are circulating outdated and edited clips to claim that two high-profile Republicans — former Vice President Mike Pence and political strategist Karl Rove — campaigned for Kamala Harris ahead of the 2024 election.
Context: The claims may ring true because high-profile Republicans have actually announced their support for Harris. But Pence, who served as Trump’s vice president, and Rove, who worked as senior advisor and deputy chief of staff to President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2007, are not among them.
A closer look: Liberal social media users shared an edited video of Pence appearing to say: “Vote for Kamala Harris as president of the United States or Tim Walz as her running mate.”
X user @mjfree, who has previously advanced seven left-leaning false narratives in NewsGuard’s database of provably false claims, posted the video with the caption, “Pence endorses VP Harris & Governor Walz.” The post received nearly 300,000 views. (@mjfree is also mentioned in this newsletter for advancing the false claim that Trump flunked a semester at Fordham.)
Actually: In the full clip, taken from an August event hosted by conservative pundit Erik Erikson, Pence actually said: “I could never vote for Kamala Harris as president.”
Not just the left: At the same time, pro-Trump social media users have been advancing the false narrative that Rove, whom they consider too moderate, recently campaigned for Harris in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania.
Michael Caputo, a political strategist who served in Trump’s administration, appears to have been the first to advance the claim. In an Oct. 14 post that has garnered over 1 million views, he stated: “GREAT NEWS! Karl Rove has arrived in Pennsylvania, he’s organizing for Kamala Harris. Which means DJT just won PA.”
Conservative commentator Rogan O’Handley, who goes by “DC_Draino” on X, reposted Caputo’s post with the text, “God bless Trump for exposing these backstabbing rats in the Republican Party.” The post received nearly 800,000 views.
Some pro-Trump accounts subsequently boosted the false narrative by citing a two-minute clip from an April 2024 episode of MSNBC show “The Beat.”
“What those [rioters] did, when they violently attacked the Capitol in order to stop a constitutionally mandated meeting of the Congress to accept the results of the Electoral College, is a stain on our history,” Rove said in the clip. You can watch here:
Pro-Trump political commentator Ian Jaeger shared the out-of-context MSNBC clip in a post that gained more than 2 million views that stated, “BREAKING: Karl Rove is rallying support for Kamala Harris today in Pennsylvania.”
Actually: In an Oct. 15 X post responding to a user advancing the false claim, Rove said that he had never campaigned for Harris.
“This clip is from the Rancho Mirage Writers Festival back in February,” Rove stated. “I have not been in Pennsylvania since September when I gave a speech to folks in the healthcare industry. I have not been rallying for Kamala Harris in Pennsylvania or anywhere else.”
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Misinformation Quiz Answer: Misinformation!
Debunk: A video featuring Vice President Kamala Harris stating that she is the “ultimate diversity hire” — Harris is the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants — is not a real ad for Harris’ 2024 presidential campaign. It was a satirical video produced by conservative YouTuber Christopher Kohls. Although the video footage from the satirical ad was taken from a Harris campaign video released on July 25, 2024, the audio was dubbed over with a fabricated AI-generated clip, Kohls said after posting the video.
Reality Check is produced by co-CEOs Steven Brill and Gordon Crovitz, and the NewsGuard team.
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