President Donald Trump looks on as he exits Air Force One on his arrival at Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Florida, January 31, 2026. REUTERS/Nathan Howard
President Donald Trump is planning to construct a so-called presidential library in Miami — but according to a recent lawsuit by a prominent historian, this is actually just a money-making scheme.
Specifically Dunn’s Overtown Farm, a nonprofit farm and market in Miami co-founded by historian and psychology professor Dr. Marvin Dunn, alleges that Florida gave away valuable land to Trump for the library in a manner that amounts to literal “corruption.”
“The court filing immediately cited Trump's own expressed disdain for libraries and museums as proof that ‘corruption’ is afoot, the likes of which Benjamin Franklin tried to prevent by insisting on a domestic emoluments clause in the first place,” Law and Crime’s Matt Naham reported on Monday. In the lawsuit, Dunn’s Overtown Farm alleged that “with its waterfront views and central location in bustling Downtown Miami, the MDC Parcel would likely sell for over $300 million on the open market, according to local real estate experts. But President Trump paid nothing for it,” adding that the president does not even "believe in building libraries or museums."
The main plaintiffs claim standing by pointing that they can see the building from where they live, as does Miami Dade College student Carmen Salcedo, a Dunn “mentee” who "has an interest in her state-operated college making decisions that benefit her and her education, rather than decisions that line the pockets of President Trump at the expense of students."
The lawsuit added, "As a student who pays money to attend a state-run institution, Ms. Salcedo has an interest in MDC and its Board making decisions that benefit students and their education, rather than decisions that line the pockets of a sitting president.” Consequently it described the alleged “giveaway” of land to Trump for building the structure is un-Constitutional because Trump has said "it's most likely going to be a hotel with a beautiful building underneath and a 747 Air Force One in the lobby."
Ultimately, the lawsuit accused Florida Republicans of giving the president free land for a hotel even though he presents it as being primarily a library.
“With respect to the receipt of unlawful emoluments, the Clause prohibits the President from receiving emoluments directly or constructively, through persons such as his immediate family members or corporate entities that he controls formally or informally,” the lawsuit wrote. “If gifts to the President could simply be routed to those with whom the President necessarily shares interests, like a spouse or legal representative, the Clause could be easily circumvented," the complaint said, again arguing that the Framers "wanted to ensure that the President would have 'no pecuniary inducement to renounce or desert the independence intended for him by the Constitution.'"
Last month a commentator who described previous criticisms of President Bill Clinton’s presidential library, which was described as looking like a mobile home, compared Trump’s proposed library to a casino.
“The images seem more akin to a casino than a site intended to help the public understand the history of a presidency,” wrote Andrew DeMillo in the Arkansas Advocate in April. “They’re also emblematic of how Trump threatens to undo efforts to preserve presidential history and undermine a key reform enacted after Watergate. Trump’s promoting images of his library at the same time his Justice Department issued a memo declaring the Presidential Records Act unconstitutional.”