Golden escalators to Air Force One: Inside Donald Trump’s opulent presidential library vision

WASHINGTON, DC: President Donald Trump's foundation unveiled a flashy teaser on Monday, March 30, for his proposed presidential library in downtown Miami – a towering skyscraper that promises to dominate the skyline. 

“Miami deserves this building,” said Eric Trump, who is helping design the project and lobbied for Florida to grant the foundation the land. “It will be a masterpiece unlike anything seen in Florida—or anywhere.”

Trump’s Miami presidential library to have towering skyline

The Trump Library Foundation’s video states that the presidential library is being designed by Bermello Ajamil, the firm behind Miami’s Four Seasons hotel and tower, as well as the PortMiami cruise terminal.

At the top of the library tower, the word “TRUMP,” the same logo used on his other real estate projects, will be displayed.

The building is planned to be as tall as, or nearly as tall as, the surrounding downtown Miami skyline, with views of Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. Eric Trump confirmed in a text Monday night that the upper floors will not be residential.

Inside the lobby on Biscayne Boulevard, a replica of Air Force One will be the main attraction. The luxury Boeing 747 aircraft is reportedly being donated to the United States by the government of Qatar, with permission for Trump to use it after leaving the White House. 

The video also highlights a pair of golden escalators, a nod to the president’s famous 2015 campaign entrance when he descended an escalator at Trump Tower in New York.

A golden statue of Trump

Inside the building, a golden statue of Trump with his fist raised will stand on the stage of an auditorium. The video also suggests a Trump statue may be placed outside, overlooking Biscayne Boulevard.

A brief shot of the tower’s entrance shows the lower portion of another golden statue, with only the legs and shoes visible. Renderings indicate that Trump’s image will be a prominent feature of the building’s exterior, with large video screens displaying his face.

The planned library tower will be much taller than the nearby Freedom Tower and will be built on a parking lot that Governor Ron DeSantis helped arrange for Miami Dade College, a state-run institution, to donate to the project.

The library will include a ballroom modeled after the one Trump plans for the White House, located on the site where the East Wing once stood before its removal. The tower will also feature replicas of the Oval Office and the Rose Garden, including copies of some portraits of former presidents that Trump previously installed in the White House garden.

The video shows small portraits and plaques, but it is unclear whether any of the critical annotations Trump added for some predecessors are included. At the very top of the building, a red, white, and blue spire rises above the giant “TRUMP” sign.

A massive American flag

The video also shows a large American flag hanging from the center of the tower. It’s unclear whether the building can fit on the 2.6-acre lot that Miami Dade College and Florida officials gave to the nonprofit foundation. The college first approved the land transfer in a brief public meeting with no discussion. After a lawsuit claimed the board violated Florida’s transparency rules, the college voted again in December, allowing the state to transfer the land.

Presidential libraries are one of the few ways sitting presidents can accept donations from foreign sources without disclosing the donors.