Back in 2019—three years into his first term as U.S. President—Donald Trump took an extraordinary step by instructing a lawyer to warn officials from his high school, college, and the College Board that they could face jail time if they ever disclosed his academic records.

Since then, details of Trump’s grades, achievements, and possible shortcomings from his student years have remained completely hidden, with institutions unwilling to risk legal consequences.

But how did Trump manage to enforce such an order? Why has it remained in place for so long? And most importantly—what exactly is he trying to keep secret?

Trump’s orders

It was Trump’s former attorney, Michael Cohen, who first disclosed six years ago that he had been ordered to warn Trump’s past schools about the consequences of revealing his academic records.

Cohen, now 58, made the revelation during his testimony before Congress, even presenting a copy of one of the letters he had sent on Trump’s behalf.

In the letter, Cohen explicitly threatened the president of Fordham University—where Trump studied for two years before transferring to the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania to complete his bachelor’s degree.

Trump’s high school representatives also testified that they had received a similar letter. Meanwhile, both the University of Pennsylvania and the College Board refused to comment on the matter at the time.

That said, it’s worth noting that these legal threats were largely unnecessary.

In reality, revealing a student’s academic records without their consent has been illegal in the U.S. for decades, thanks to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974.