--- title: Late Night Hosts Guess Secrets in Trump's School Transcripts description: Seth Meyers, Stephen Colbert, and Jimmy Kimmel all have some guesses about what's hidden in Trump's school transcripts canonical: https://time.com/5546974/colbert-kimmel-om-trump-school-records/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-03-07T16:13:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-13T08:24:34.443Z og:title: Late Night Hosts Guess Secrets in Trump's School Transcripts og:description: Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel have theories og:url: https://time.com/5546974/colbert-kimmel-om-trump-school-records/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6dff57586cce8bf9/6989465f09208f3d29413720/nedstewart.jpeg?branch=production&width=1127&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1127 og:image:height: 634 og:image:alt: NedStewart og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Late Night Hosts Guess Secrets in Trump's School Transcripts twitter:description: Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel have theories twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6dff57586cce8bf9/6989465f09208f3d29413720/nedstewart.jpeg?branch=production&width=1127&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Late Night Comedians Think They Know Exactly What Trump's School Transcripts Really Reveal > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=fc612ace-61ed-4c9a-999b-1cadcadfe0d3&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Donald Trump Criticized Obama's Grades. But His Lawyer Threatened Trump's Alma Maters Not to Release His Own Grades [Watch (HLS stream): Donald Trump Criticized Obama's Grades. But His Lawyer Threatened Trump's Alma Maters Not to Release His Own Grades](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/p6GhZbpH.m3u8) (1:23)  _Published 2019-02-27. Donald Trump Criticized Obama's Grades. But His Lawyer Threatened Trump's Alma Maters Not to Release His Own Grades_ by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Mar 7, 2019 4:13 PM UTC Donald Trump Criticized Obama's Grades. But His Lawyer Threatened Trump's Alma Maters Not to Release His Own Grades by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Mar 7, 2019 4:13 PM UTC As part of [Michael Cohen’s](http://time.com/5546292/michael-cohen-more-trump-tower-moscow-documents-congress/) testimony to Congress he said that President Donald Trump, his former client, had asked him to perform various tasks, including making sure that his school transcripts remained hidden away. Among “the areas of interest in this Cohen testimony was his claim that one of the many weird things \[President\] Trump ordered him to do was to send letters warning Trump’s high school, colleges, and the College Board not to release his grades or SAT scores,” Jimmy Kimmel explained on Wednesday’s _Jimmy Kimmel Live_, joking: “I would bet Trump’s grades are so bad he couldn’t even get into Trump University.” To get to the bottom of the “truth” behind Trump’s schoolroom secrets, Kimmel welcomed the superintendent of the New York Military Academy (NYMA), Dr. Ned Stewart (played by Fred Willard), who had the truth about Trump’s grades and SAT score. Kimmel wasn’t the only late night television host to have thoughts on what [Trump](http://time.com/5546365/trump-impeachment-poll-monmouth/) wanted to stay secret on his high school report cards. “What could he possibly be hiding?” Stephen Colbert wanted to know on _The Late Show_. “We all assume he failed everything. Did they invent an easy class for him or something?” Colbert explained that _The Washington Post_ reported that the Trump had his New York Military Academy transcripts buried for an important reason: “That way, if a reporter tried to find out if Trump ever learned to read, write, or spell, there would be no smocking gun,” Colbert joked, [referencing one of the president’s Twitter typos](http://time.com/5475262/trump-smocking-gun/). According to Colbert’s research, Trump’s request to bury his high school records “came just days after Donald Trump challenged President Barack Obama to ‘show his records,‘ to prove that he hadn’t been a ‘terrible student.’” Colbert continued, “This happens over and over again: Everything [Trump](http://traffic.outbrain.com/network/redir?p=GM4IrSr3NrC3BFj2W7CWswaZzibXYuJKKrYkhLPpxsVQlRnQd00NRyV1-vazGBWoufUJF0BqfnqNJq7PKoasNTd-ApbBwEJeoLbfcqKrF11JooN6IunAY40RUcF2wLbztXrvrObgWEHkDRUQ73IehxusQGFhtPdNyTExv7rZBhPhCm3yTRjooOINbe%5FcTwuanBAhm9Pt2BZd5%5FVPeihuvRoxgkZLuhTWMStbAOeRwgeIiXPWVZLRw8Kq9lm9gUWtgMW4ZnZLx68KyYqWjGy2CaPRGSgKQCjPXc4vW2PmkxfuRI7x-KKMpG%5FdruWPeE8r8Z8WepwRyT2ABMcYxR0u2YwwLTQw4keuxGhUB6tC%5FUWtlR6PyJWZZpMxJYOCmNx5V9wtIHsaLOCrehSQDfKIrNSdHhTXzw0WCzaEER9Dne0XFNLmuOzmgNZ4ZZm5XFl2-nx4vOu7PwEFRIopUd5KYyjSxFtiL4NY6OpDlJwnAGNiR8F867DKKKT3CmiVPFP2LJ21v8A25SbLvUdGRtTo3YAOubHJcFX6JYn3V-oeAY%5F65PmJ9JWY3go7FikTJvRTPhYcSCswjD3fli%5F6MGHwrjC5LlFzQfncTvdNAuDLHagLjFCnkthWIVwUi%5FUMOX-7bRB7bWtEp8KB150u8cVv80SVX5b8jK%5Fj39Be8gt75IrgHxsWu47It8JYriWB-cd3ONnJFm58nUmA1vQMocuMqtpTk9ArZ9M85ZKwaVZQDly2BzHqXwG4zNbgLJNej1awrlAFNsM8ZXfFAkgv9JhqWA82nx1nlYRKOIlCE2xZlfTcevH1YmUuShOSWT-zZIKqZ3npoUng8Snka5Z2YOz7JrJnSLzpnOe1sAQEwM-boPP8Zi3nuWE%5FrJADNHik354qaeMylRw-ZNSUfOWhG6O-LQ&c=dbea9af6&v=3) accuses other people of, he’s guilty of himself — oh my God! Trump was born in Kenya!” ## Transcript [00:00] When I say con man, I'm talking about a man who [00:03] declares himself brilliant that directed me to threaten [00:08] his high school, his colleges, and the college board [00:12] to never release his grades or SAT scores. The [00:16] irony wasn't lost on me at the time that Mr. Trump, in [00:20] 2011 Had strongly criticized president Obama [00:24] for not releasing his grades. If Barack Obama opens [00:29] up and gives his college records and applications [00:35] and if he gives his passport applications and records, [00:40] I will give. To a charity of his choice. Inner- city [00:45] children in Chicago, American Cancer Society, AIDS [00:49] research. Anything he wants, a [00:54] check immediately for $ 5 million. The [00:59] check will be given within one hour after he [01:03] releases all of the records so stated. If he releases [01:08] these records, it will end the question, and indeed the [01:12] anger, of many Americans. They'll know something [01:16] about their President. Their president will become [01:20] transparent, like other presidents. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5546974/colbert-kimmel-om-trump-school-records/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5546974/colbert-kimmel-om-trump-school-records/"},"headline":"Late Night Comedians Think They Know Exactly What Trump's School Transcripts Really Reveal","datePublished":"2019-03-07T16:13:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-13T08:24:34.443Z","description":"Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, and Seth Meyers all have guesses","url":"https://time.com/5546974/colbert-kimmel-om-trump-school-records/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Donald Trump","Late Night Television"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6dff57586cce8bf9/6989465f09208f3d29413720/nedstewart.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6dff57586cce8bf9/6989465f09208f3d29413720/nedstewart.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"NedStewart","caption":"Kimmel and Colbert make fun of Trump's school records.","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5546974/colbert-kimmel-om-trump-school-records/","name":"Late Night Comedians Think They Know Exactly What Trump's School Transcripts Really Reveal"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Donald Trump Criticized Obama's Grades. 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