What was claimed
The results of an IQ test allegedly taken by Donald Trump during his first year at New York Military Academy have been discovered in a former staff member’s home and show his IQ is 73.
Our verdict
There is no evidence of such a discovery or that President Trump has an IQ score of 73.
A graphic claiming the results of an IQ test allegedly taken by Donald Trump in his youth show he has an IQ of 73 is circulating on social media.
The image looks like a clipping from a newspaper but Full Fact could find no such article having been published. It has been online since at least 2019. Using reverse image and keyword searches we could not find any similar claim on any credible news website, aside from articles debunking it. The only version that appears to exist is the screenshotted image being shared online.
There is also no evidence the US president has an IQ of 73, nor has there been any news coverage of an official IQ score. President Trump has often suggested his political foes take IQ tests, has claimed his own IQ is high and called himself a “very stable genius”.
The false graphic says: “Trump IQ test results discovered in former NYMA [New York Military Academy] employee's closet. The result: 73.”
It goes on to say: “The results of an IQ test that President Donald Trump allegedly took during his first year at New York Military Academy have been discovered in a file box in a closet in Brooklyn. According to the test results, Trump’s IQ is 73.
“The document, currently in the process of being authenticated, was discovered Thursday by William Askew, Jr. as he was cleaning out his late father’s apartment.
“‘Dad was the school counselor at NYMA from 1955 to 1985. He didn’t administer these tests, but he was in charge of collecting them and sending them to the grading office,’ said Askew.
“Askew produced additional documents and photographs that confirm his father was indeed employed as school counselor at NYMA at the same time Trump attended the military prep school.”
As other fact checkers have previously pointed out, the picture used of “William Askew Jr” is a stock photo.
The image of the man who is supposedly Mr Askew’s father actually shows Principal Hanson of Grand Forks Central High School in North Dakota, USA, in the 1950s.
A former student of the New York Military Academy, who attended at the same time as President Trump, also told fact checkers at Snopes he did not recall IQ tests being carried out during his time at the school.
Jack Serafin, vice president of the Regiment of Graduates for New York Military Academy, who attended the school from 1962 to 1967, a period that overlapped with President Trump, likewise told PolitiFact that “NYMA did not give IQ tests” and that Askew the counsellor “did not exist”.
We have debunked a number of claims about President Trump recently, including a deepfake which appears to show him saying that India violated the ceasefire with Pakistan and a widely debunked fake quote, that he described Republicans as “the dumbest group of voters”.
False or misleading claims online have the potential to harm individuals, groups and democratic processes and institutions. Online claims can spread fast and far, and are difficult to contain and correct.
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as false because there is no evidence Donald Trump has an IQ of 73.
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