Lawyer: MDC land giveaway is a Constitutional violation
Donald Trump’s proposed presidential library in downtown Miami is now facing its second lawsuit — and this time the plaintiffs are making one thing crystal clear: The library itself is not the problem.
It’s the hotel.
A group of Miami residents, a student, nearby neighbors and a nonprofit tied to historian and civil rights activist Marvin Dunn — who filed the first lawsuit to try to stop the transfer of the property from Miami Dade College — have filed a new lawsuit accusing the state of Florida and MDC of essentially handing over public land so Trump can build what critics say amounts to a luxury commercial development disguised as a presidential library.
Complete with the TRUMP logo alit across the entire width of the building.
Read related: Donald Trump Library back on track after judge lifts MDC injunction
The lawsuit targets the controversial transfer of valuable waterfront-adjacent land on Biscayne Boulevard next to the Freedom 
Tower — a parking lot once controlled by Miami Dade College — to the Trump Presidential Library Foundation. The plaintiffs argue the arrangement violates the U.S. Constitution’s domestic emoluments clause, which prohibits presidents from receiving gifts from states beyond their official compensation.
Or as the lawsuit more bluntly frames it: Florida officials allegedly gifted Trump land worth potentially hundreds of millions of dollars so he can profit from it personally.
It argues that this really isn’t about archives. it’s about real estate.
Because while supporters keep talking about preserving presidential history and creating a national landmark, Trump himself may have accidentally blown up the whole “this is about education” narrative when he described the project earlier this year as “most likely going to be a hotel… could be an office, but it’s most likely going to be a hotel with a beautiful building underneath.”
Not subtle.
According to the lawsuit, AI-generated renderings of the proposed skyscraper feature giant TRUMP branding nearly identical to signage used at Trump hotels worldwide, hotel-style architecture, luxury aesthetics, replica White House interiors, Air Force One 
displays — and other highly commercial-looking elements.
And a lot of gold-colored everything.
Eric Trump promoted the project online while referencing work done with the Trump Organization.
“These images have never been seen by the public — until today. Enjoy,” he posted on X in March, saying it “will be one of the most beautiful buildings ever built, an Icon on the Miami skyline” and would “stand as a lasting testament to an amazing man, an amazing developer, and the greatest President our Nation has ever known.”
Those statements are now being used by opponents to argue that the project looks less like a traditional presidential archive and more like a business opportunity attached to publicly donated land. At what point does a “presidential library” become just another Trump-branded development deal with some exhibit space downstairs?
Attorney Gerald Greenberg, representing the plaintiffs, asks people to separate the politics from the core argument.
“The problem here is not the library,” Greenberg told WPLG Local 10 this week. “The problem here is your personal business for personal gain and that’s unlawful.”
Read related: Miami Dade College gifts Donald Trump land for his library — and a hotel
Greenberg, who is also a councilman in Pinecrest, says the giveaway violates the Domestic Emoluments Clause, a provision in the U.S. Constitution designed to prevent a president from personally profiting from state or federal governments while in office.
“This is a quintessential gift from the state,” Greenberg said, because MDC’s Board of Trustees — hand-picked, hardline 
Republicans loyal to Gov. Ron DeSantis — transferred the property to the state and the state gave it away to the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library Foundation.
Trump faced multiple emoluments lawsuits during his first presidency over his business dealings, foreign governments staying at Trump hotels and U.S. government spending at Trump-owned venues. Most of those cases were eventually dismissed or became moot after he left office, so there still isn’t a giant definitive Supreme Court ruling that clearly defines the boundaries.
The current POTUS has a long-running blur between public office and private branding. Hotels. Golf clubs. Licensing deals. Resorts. Now potentially a “presidential library” with a luxury hospitality component attached to it like an overpriced minibar.
The plaintiffs argue that, in this case, the land — estimated by some real estate analysts to be worth upwards of $360 million — was supposed to serve Miami Dade College students and the broader downtown community, not become the foundation for what critics fear could morph into a giant for-profit hotel tower benefiting the sitting president and his family business.
Read related: MDC Trustees rubber-stamp Donald Trump library land giveaway — again
Supporters of the project, of course, see something very different. A major tourist attraction and economic development. A 
presidential landmark. Global attention and another trophy project for the city’s skyline.
Critics see public land being funneled into private enrichment under the patriotic wrapping paper of a presidential archive.
And in Miami, where every giant development eventually turns into a battle over money, influence, land use and political favors, this thing was almost genetically engineered to explode. Especially because the proposed site sits next to the Freedom Tower — one of the most symbolically important landmarks in the Cuban exile community — giving the project an extra layer of political emotion and cultural theater.
The lawsuit may ultimately fail. Trump allies will almost certainly argue the land transfer was legal, that the foundation is separate from Trump personally, and that presidential libraries often involve public-private partnerships.
Meanwhile, the renderings keep circulating online looking less like a quiet presidential archive and more like the opening shot of a new season of Succession: Mar-a-Lago Edition.
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