Democratic Maryland Gov. Wes Moore might have a huge problem if he decides to run for president in 2028.
A Washington Free Beacon report suggests that Moore possibly fudged the truth on his academic and career record.
The report details how Moore earned a White House fellowship under former President George W. Bush and leveraged it to launch his political career. However, there are indications that he may not have been honest on his fellowship application, claiming to be a “foremost expert” on radical Islam.
That a 27-year-old could claim to be a "foremost expert" on the Islamic threat based on a year at an American military base in Afghanistan and two years at Oxford could be excused away as an ambitious young man's puffery. But on close examination, Moore's claims of expertise and of being a serious scholar completely unravel, as do his claims, also on his White House fellowship application, that he was working toward an Oxford doctorate.
The problems start with confusion—which neither Moore's staff nor Oxford's registrars were willing or able to clear up—about when Moore completed his studies, when he received his degree, whether he submitted his thesis, and what the title of the work was.
In his White House fellowship application—which is public record—Moore wrote that he graduated from Oxford in 2003. But in the résumé attached to that application, Moore reported a different graduation date: June 2004.
Asked to reconcile the two dates, a spokesman for the governor didn't provide a photograph of Moore's degree, but rather, a "degree confirmation," generated last week by Oxford's registrar's office, indicating Moore completed his graduate studies as a full-time student and "has been awarded the degree," but has not yet been issued a formal certificate. The "degree confirmation" generated by Oxford gives another contradictory date, showing that Moore completed his full-time graduate studies in November of 2005, a full four years after he began his Oxford studies, though a master's degree typically takes two years to earn.
According to Moore, by November 2005, the month when Oxford now says Moore completed his master's studies, he was serving in the 82nd Airborne Division in Afghanistan. He also says he began working as an investment banker at Deutsche Bank in London in March 2004.
That's just the beginning of the peculiarities and inconsistencies surrounding Moore's graduate studies, which a spokesman for the governor, Ammar Moussa, dismissed—after several off-the-record conversations—by saying the Washington Free Beacon is not "engaged in journalism" and is "doing what they always do: manufacturing doubt about the accomplishments of a Black veteran, Rhodes Scholar, and public servant because it fits their narrative."
🚨Anybody who considers Wes Moore a prospective 2028 presidential candidate should read this. The Maryland governor claims to have earned his masters degree from Oxford in 2003. And also in 2004. Oxford says it was Nov 2005. pic.twitter.com/0GSN0EMjvk
— Eliana Johnson (@elianayjohnson) December 11, 2025
Despite Moussa’s claims, the Washington Free Beacon appears to have uncovered some glaring inconsistencies in Moore’s narrative about his career. For example, the governor’s “degree confirmation” from Oxford displays a different title for his thesis from what he indicated on his White House fellowship application.
According to the Oxford certificate, the title of Moore's thesis was Radical Islam in Latin America in the late 20th Century and its Middle Eastern Roots. But in his application to the White House, and in all subsequent biographies, Moore says his thesis was called The Rise and Ramifications of Radical Islam in the Western Hemisphere. The reference to Latin America has been removed, creating the impression that Moore's supposed expertise is on Islamic radicals in the "Western Hemisphere," including their "rise" in the United States. The new title also removes the timeframe of "the late 20th century" (the 21st century was 6 years old at the time), making Moore's area of study more timely.
Given that the War on Terror was in full swing at the time, portraying himself as an expert in the rise of terrorism in America would have made quite an impression on those examining his application.
If this simple title discrepancy were the only issue, Moore could likely avoid a scandal. But that’s not all.
The Washington Free Beacon says it contacted Oxford’s Bodleian Library, which houses all theses from the university’s students. However, a senior librarian told the outlet that she could not find “any trace” of Moore’s work. It wasn’t misplaced. He never submitted the paper, according to the report.
She further explained that the university requires students to submit their work before receiving their degrees. But since the governor did not have a ceremony, “this is not a requirement he would have needed to fulfill,” the librarian said.
Yet, Moussa insists that Moore did submit his thesis and claimed that “Any insinuation otherwise is a desperate attempt by a partisan outlet to launder baseless opposition research into a ‘story.’”
But this matter isn’t the first of its type for Moore. He has been caught making false statements on several other occasions.
Moore claimed on his 2006 White House fellowship application, for example, to have been inducted into the Maryland College Football Hall of Fame, an organization that doesn't exist; that he received a Bronze Star for his service in Afghanistan, which he had not; and that he was born in Baltimore, which he was not.
Moore, who was born in Takoma Park, Maryland, a comfortable Washington, D.C., suburb, and went to high school in Pennsylvania, said in August 2024 that his false claim to have received a Bronze Star in that 2006 application was an "honest mistake." When Moore became governor, two decades after his service, he received the honor in a private ceremony at the governor's mansion after a general who supervised him in Afghanistan, Michael Fenzel, a close friend who served as a groomsman in his wedding, "resubmitted" the needed paperwork.
The author spoke with several other experts in the field of radical Islam. None of them indicated they had ever seen his name come up in their studies.
If Moore decides to run for president, he won’t be able to avoid this issue. Yes, he and his allies in the media will just call anyone who questions the discrepancies a racist. But nobody will care. If he can’t provide a worthy explanation for this, it’s doubtful that he will go very far in the primaries. It might be a good idea for him to sit this one out.