New lawsuit filed by a group of Miami residents seeks to block "outrageous" Trump Presidential Library
The Trump Presidential Library is facing a new legal challenge. A group of Miami residents, including historian Marvin Dunn, filed suit last week in federal court to block the transfer of land for the proposed library.
The downtown Miami site, located next to the Freedom Tower, was originally controlled for Miami Dade College for future growth, but Governor Ron DeSantis demanded the college surrender the three-acre parcel so that it could be used by the Trump family to build Trump's presidential library.
The lawsuit argues the land transfer would constitute a gift, and violates emoluments clause of the U.S. Constitution, which specifically prevents the president from receiving financial benefits – so-called emoluments – other than his salary. The Founding Fathers believed it would be wrong for groups to be able to provide gifts and other financial benefits to a president to curry favor.
The suit argues that since the plans for the 47-story tower call for not just a library but also a Trump hotel, condos and commercial offices for lease, it constitutes a financial gift to the President and is therefore illegal.
On Sunday's Facing South Florida, one of the attorneys bringing the lawsuit, Gerald Greenberg, spoke to CBS Miami's Jim DeFede about what makes this presidential library different than others.
"This is not, by any stretch, a presidential library," Greenberg argued. "You know, I've been to a number of them. The Harry Truman Library in Independence, Missouri, doesn't have a 47-story skyscraper. I happened to go last year to the George W. Bush Library in Texas. It's a library and it's a museum. Same with the Clintons, Obamas, the Reagans. If this were just a library, we would not have this lawsuit, but they've made it crystal clear. This isn't a library. The president himself said, I don't do libraries and museums. He said he expects it to be a hotel. They released this well-documented and well-produced video showing what it's going to be. It's going to be hotel. It is going to a commercial center."
Added Marvin Dunn: "Miami-Day College will get nothing back from this highly commercial pitch of the Trump family. That's outrageous, absolutely outrageous."