Trump’s plan to use his library as a hotel sparks lawsuit; The Washington Post, May 14, 2026

Dan Diamond

 and 

Aaron Schaffer

, The Washington Post; Trump’s plan to use his library as a hotel sparks lawsuit

"A group of Miami residents sued President Donald Trump, Florida officials and trustees of Miami Dade College on Tuesday over Trump’s planned presidential library, claiming that the college’s decision to hand over a coveted parcel of land for the project constitutes an illegal benefit for the president.

The litigants — who include a current Miami Dade College student — allege that the land transfer violates the Constitution’s domestic emoluments clause, which bars states from attempting to influence a president by giving him gifts. They argue that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and his handpicked board of trustees at the state-operated college were wrong to give a nearly three-acre parcel in downtown Miami to Trump’s library foundation last year in exchange for $10. The county’s property appraiser had said the land was worth more than $67 million...

“I don’t believe in building libraries or museums,” Trump said in the Oval Office the day after posting the renderings, as he discussed plans for his own library. “It’s most likely going to be a hotel with a beautiful building underneath and a 747 Air Force One in the lobby.”"

The Trump presidential library would be a giant tower of grift; The Washington Post, April 3, 2026

Philip Kennicott, The Washington Post; The Trump presidential library would be a giant tower of grift

 "But the unknown funding and revenue questions raised by this structure are deeply serious. By the time of the Obama administration, about 95 percent of the presidential records were digital, meaning they didn’t require huge amounts of storage space. So, what will fill those 50 floors of space?

Will they be monetized, as apartments or offices? And if so, who will profit from them?

Despite numerous efforts by Congress to establish ethics guidelines and bring transparency to the fundraising for presidential centers, these institutions are still allowed to seek unlimited private donations without disclosing their donors.

Will the Trump library be some kind of hybrid nonprofit foundation, built with gifts solicited from private donors including, perhaps, foreign governments — yet also a for-profit real estate development that enriches Trump personally?

The great modernist architect Le Corbusier once said that a house is a machine for living. Libraries and museums might be thought of as machines for learning. The Trump presidential center appears intended to be a machine for emoluments, with one of the biggest emoluments in the history of America sitting in a giant hall at its base."