# Donald J. Trump Presidential Library Trump's planned presidential library is to sit on a **2.6-acre parcel at 500–540 Biscayne Boulevard** in downtown Miami, next to the Freedom Tower, the building where Cuban exiles were processed in the 1960s. The land was valued at about $66–67 million. A public college gave it away, the state approved the gift, and the building Trump has shown off is a branded tower he says will "most likely" be a hotel. ## How the land moved | Date | Step | |---|---| | June 2025 | [[Ron DeSantis]] signs **SB 118**, which reserves all regulation of presidential libraries to the state and bars local ordinances, so Miami's zoning cannot touch the project. | | Sept 23, 2025 | Miami Dade College trustees vote to give the parcel away. | | Sept 30, 2025 | The Florida Cabinet, including Attorney General [[James Uthmeier]], approves the transfer. | | Oct 14, 2025 | A circuit judge temporarily blocks it, in historian Marvin Dunn's suit under the state Sunshine Law. | | Dec 2, 2025 | Trustees re-vote. | | Dec 18, 2025 | Dunn's complaint is dismissed. | | Feb 6, 2026 | The deed passes to the **Donald J. Trump Presidential Library Foundation**. The price was reportedly $10 (NPR only). The deed requires construction to begin within five years. | ## The design On March 30, 2026 Trump posted an AI-generated video to [[Truth Social]] showing a TRUMP-branded skyscraper. It has a Boeing 747 Air Force One in the lobby, replicas of the Oval Office, the Rose Garden and the ballroom, and a gold statue. "Could be office, but it's most likely going to be a hotel with a beautiful building underneath and a 747 Air Force One in the lobby," he said. The plaintiffs describe a 47-story tower with hotel, condo and office space. The architect is Bermello Ajamil & Partners. No groundbreaking had been announced as of October 2026. **The plane.** In May 2025 Trump said the jet [[Qatar]] gave him would go "directly to the library." It has flown as Air Force One since July 2026. On August 6, 2026 [[Eric Trump]] said that was "not the plan at the moment," and that an older, retired Air Force One would likely be displayed instead. A White House official said there was no final decision. See [[Qatari Influence]]. ## The money: two entities The media settlements did **not** go to the Foundation that owns the land, as far as any public record shows. They went to an earlier nonprofit, the **Donald J. Trump Presidential Library Fund, Inc.**: | Payer | Amount | When | |---|---:|---| | [[ABC News]] | $15M | Dec 2024 | | [[Meta]] (the [[Instagram]] suit) | $22M of $25M | Jan 2025 | | X | $10M | Feb 2025 | | Paramount, over [[60 Minutes]] | $16M | July 2025 | The Fund was administratively dissolved in September 2025 and filed articles of dissolution in December. The Foundation was incorporated separately in May 2025. Its trustees are Eric Trump, [[Michael Boulos]] ([[Tiffany Trump]]'s husband) and Trump's lawyer James Kiley. In April 2026 Senators [[Elizabeth Warren]] and [[Richard Blumenthal]] and Rep. Melanie Stansbury asked where "as much as $63 million in settlement money" had gone. The companies said they did not know. YouTube's $24.5 million settlement (September 2025) is a separate track: $22 million went to the [[Trust for the National Mall]] for the [[White House Ballroom Project]]. **Foreign money.** [[SoftBank]] gave **$50 million**, earmarked for a U.S.–Japan alliance section, first reported by Politico on May 22, 2026. SoftBank answered Warren's questions in a July 15 letter. ## The emoluments suit On May 13–14, 2026 two Miami residents and Overtown Farm, a nonprofit led by Marvin Dunn, sued in federal court under the Constitution's emoluments provisions (see [[Emoluments Clauses]]). They are represented by the Constitutional Accountability Center and Gelber Schachter & Greenberg. In September the judge ruled that the defendants' presidential-immunity and Eleventh Amendment defenses must be decided first (one source, WLRN). Activists rallied against the project at the Freedom Tower on October 2, 2026. ## Pattern The library sits alongside the [[Trump Airport Licensing Deal]] as a 2026 Florida transfer of public assets to the Trump name, and alongside the [[White House Ballroom Project]] as a donor-funded monument. ## See Also - [[Trump Airport Licensing Deal]] · [[White House Ballroom Project]] · [[Trump Corruption News Log]] - [[Qatari Influence]] · [[Emoluments Clauses]] · [[SoftBank]] · [[Masayoshi Son]] - [[ABC News]] · [[CBS News]] · [[60 Minutes]] · [[Instagram]] · [[Bob Iger]] - [[Ron DeSantis]] · [[James Uthmeier]] · [[Eric Trump]] · [[Michael Boulos]]