DeSantis dismisses validity of new Trump library lawsuit during Miami appearance

Claire Heddles, Miami Herald on May 15, 2026

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MIAMI — Gov. Ron DeSantis waved off a lawsuit accusing him of illegally soliciting special favors for Florida by giving Donald Trump’s presidential library foundation free land during a visit to Miami Dade College Friday.

He pointed to the fact that the land was granted to a nonprofit, not the president himself, as part of his dismissive posture against the allegations. The governor and the Florida Cabinet agreed to transfer prime Biscayne Boulevard land to Trump’s foundation at no cost last fall.

The federal lawsuit — filed Wednesday by two Miami residents, a Miami Dade College student and a local nonprofit run by historian and activist Marvin Dunn — accuses the college, Florida officials, Trump and his foundation of violating the domestic emoluments clause in the Constitution, which bans presidents from accepting financial benefits from individual states.

“I don’t know really what the lawsuit would be,” DeSantis said. “It’s the foundation that is going to be running this, they’re trying to say it's a personal benefit to the president.”

The complaint argued that because Trump’s family members are on the board of his foundation and because he has floated plans for a commercial hotel on site, Trump will directly benefit from the land deal.

“Although ownership of the MDC Parcel was conveyed to the Trump Library Foundation and not to the President directly, the Trump Library Foundation is ‘governed exclusively’ by President Trump’s family members and close allies,” attorneys for the plaintiffs wrote.

“It is also clear that the Trump Library Foundation intends to allow The Trump Organization, the business conglomerate privately owned by President Trump and consisting of his for-profit business ventures, to use its facilities to run a for-profit enterprise,” they added.

The lawsuit presents one of the few setbacks the project could face, after DeSantis signed a bill last year that aimed to preempt local governments from enacting or enforcing regulations against presidential libraries.

The governor was at Miami Dade College Friday to sign a bill expanding a state program that allows certain faculty to carry guns in postsecondary schools. He praised the fact that the school is connected to the proposed presidential library project.

The property Trump plans to use for his presidential center and potential hotel was previously owned by Miami Dade College. The state asked the college for its property at no cost before turning around and giving it to Trump’s foundation.

Miami Dade College has no known formal relationship with the land or library project, as there were no negotiated concessions for the school in the land transfer agreement. Still, DeSantis touted the planned development as “the first presidential library that would be affiliated with a state college.”

“The others — Bush, Clinton, these others — were with universities. So to be able to have Miami Dade College be involved in that is really a unique opportunity,” DeSantis said.

Unlike the Florida deal, the George H.W. Bush presidential library at Texas A&M University has a long-term lease with the school. DeSantis said he didn’t know much about presidential library deals, and wasn’t worried about the lawsuit.

“I don’t know that’s how these things end up typically being,” DeSantis said. “But I know for us, we view it as a good opportunity for education and culture, and I’m really excited to have Miami Dade College involved in that.”

DeSantis, Miami Dade College and its trustees are all named in the new federal lawsuit over the land deal. It’s the second lawsuit the college has fought back against over the land transfer, after a state-level lawsuit last fall accusing trustees of violating the state’s transparency laws when agreeing to the deal. That case was dismissed after trustees took a new vote on the plan.