Things to know about a potential Trump presidential library in Florida

Associated Press

12-03-2025

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump's team is already looking for locations for his presidential library, and Florida may be a top contender.
A Florida legislator said Monday that the state has a 'high likelihood' of getting its first presidential library.
Presidential libraries are significant for post-administration historical archives depicting materials from a former president's term. They require years of planning and don't use federal funding.
Here are a few things to know about a potential Trump presidential library:
A Florida bill is trying to set regulations for it
The state Senate Rules Committee on Wednesday unanimously backed Sen. Jason Brodeur's bill that he said would 'prevent any municipality or county from imposing frivolous obstacles to the establishment of a presidential library within the state.'
Brodeur said other states that built presidential libraries had construction roadmaps created to follow state and local laws, and Florida would need the same. He also said all former presidents are welcome to put a presidential library in Florida, not just Trump.
'I anticipate that this will be a pretty popular attraction. It is somebody who's likely even the most famous developer in the world right now,' he said.
Where would it be?
Brodeur's bill comes as Trump's team is looking at several South Florida universities — including Florida Atlantic University and Florida International University — as potential spots for a presidential library.
A secretary at the FAU president's office said she had not heard of any plans for a presidential library and declined to comment further. Spokespeople for FAU and FIU, and the White House press office didn't immediately respond to messages about possible plans for a presidential library.
Traditionally, such libraries are built in the state where a president was born or grew up. Trump, though, was born in New York, which voted against him in three straight presidential elections and which made him the first former president to be convicted of felonies last year.
Trump now primarily lives in Florida, and he's filled his administration's ranks with politicians and others from the Sunshine State.
The nitty gritty of a presidential library
Democrats raised concerns in committee hearings about whether local residents would bear the costs of the library's construction. Brodeur said all costs of building the library, including the planning costs, would fall to the president and library archives.
In December, ABC News agreed to pay $15 million toward a Trump presidential library to settle a defamation lawsuit. In the agreement, ABC News described the payment as a 'charitable contribution' to an escrow account being managed by Trump's attorney.
That's would amount to a small fraction of the overall cost of building the library. For example, former President Barack Obama's library in Chicago was estimated to cost $830 million as of 2021.
Little is known about what would be in a Trump presidential library, but materials in these libraries usually include documents, artifacts or items significant to a president's administration.
Earlier this month the Justice Department returned the boxes coming from the FBI search of his Mar-a-Lago home in 2022 for classified documents. Trump said in a Truth Social post that these boxes were being sent to Florida, where they 'will someday be part of the Trump Presidential Library.'