\u201cI don\u2019t know really what the lawsuit would be,\u201d DeSantis said. \u201cIt\u2019s the foundation that is going to be running this, they\u2019re trying to say it’s a personal benefit to the president.\u201d<\/p>\n
The complaint argued that because Trump\u2019s family members are on the board of his foundation and because he has floated plans for a commercial hotel on site<\/a>, Trump will directly benefit from the land deal.<\/p>\n \u201cAlthough ownership of the MDC Parcel was conveyed to the Trump Library Foundation and not to the President directly, the Trump Library Foundation is \u2018governed exclusively\u2019 by President Trump\u2019s family members and close allies,\u201d attorneys for the plaintiffs wrote<\/p>\n \u201cIt 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,\u201d they added.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s foundation.<\/p>\n 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 \u201cthe first presidential library that would be affiliated with a state college.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe others \u2014 Bush, Clinton, these others \u2014were with universities. So to be able to have Miami Dade College be involved in that is really a unique opportunity,\u201d DeSantis said.<\/p>\n 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\u2019t know much about presidential library deals, and wasn\u2019t worried about the lawsuit.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know that\u2019s how these things end up typically being,\u201d DeSantis said. \u201cBut I know for us, we view it as a good opportunity for education and culture, and I\u2019m really excited to have Miami Dade College involved in that.\u201d<\/p>\n DeSantis, Miami Dade College and its trustees are all named in the new federal lawsuit over the land deal. It\u2019s 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\u2019s transparency laws when agreeing to the deal. That case was dismissed after trustees took a new vote on the plan.<\/p>\n