President Donald Trump has derided the Obama Presidential Library as over budget, called its construction a “disaster” and compared it to a trash can. Now, the former president’s foundation is extending an invitation to arguably its most vocal critic.
Obama Foundation CEO Valerie Jarrett, who served as a senior adviser in the Obama administration, told USA Today June 3 that the center would welcome Trump to view the center for himself.
“Judge for yourself,” Jarett said during a preview of the center last week. “When our visitors come, they will see a spectacular campus… If [Trump] would like to come and visit it himself, we would welcome him and give him a tour.”
The Independent has asked the White House for comment.
The $850 million Obama Presidential Library, located in Jackson Park on the South Side of Chicago, is opening to the public Juneteenth weekend. The center documents the life and presidency of former President Barack Obama, the first Black president of the United States.
The library sits on a 19.3-acre campus that will also house the Obama Foundation and provide public recreational spaces such as a basketball court, picnic area, playground, auditorium, classroom spaces, cafe and sledding hill.
Obama Foundation Vice President of Public Engagement Josh Harris told the Associated Press the center is a “safe space for people to come… together as a community to think about what change you can bring to your own neighborhood.”
Tickets for the museum are $30 – making it the most expensive presidential library, right behind the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, which is $29.
Like all new construction, the Obama Presidential Library has faced criticisms for taking longer than anticipated to build, costing more than double its initial $300 million estimate and for the aesthetic of the signature 225-foot stone tower.
The center has faced a lawsuit from a local group that argued that the construction disrupted the historic park, though a federal judge dismissed the suit in 2022.
Trump, who consistently rails against Obama on Truth Social and in speeches, has repeatedly criticized the library.
In February, Trump claimed Illinois was spending millions to “bail out Obama’s badly delayed and tremendously over-budget ‘library.” During an Oval Office appearance in May, Trump insisted the library was “a disaster” and being built by “woke people.”
Over the weekend, the president posted an AI-generated image of the Obama Presidential Library “fully matured” in 10 years, depicting the center as abandoned and in disarray, filled with trash and surrounded by homeless encampments.
Yet while he attacks his predecessor’s library, Trump has also received criticism for renderings depicting his own presidential center.
Trump, who plans to build his legacy library in Miami, Florida, released an AI-generated video showing examples of the glass tower, decorated with gilded accents, including a gold escalator, a giant gold statue of Trump and a replica of the president’s White House ballroom. Trump has said his library was “most likely going to be a hotel.”
Watchdog groups have sounded the alarm on Trump’s plan for a presidential library, warning of ethical violations. At least one group of Miami residents has sued to stop Trump from using land for his project.
