Joe Biden faces the ultimate humiliation as his presidential library dream hits the rocks… and an old friend refuses to donate to his ‘tarnished legacy’

Published: 18:05 EDT, 14 October 2026 | Updated: 18:08 EDT, 14 October 2026

Perhaps the worst legacy for a president is to be forgotten – and that increasingly appears to be the unfortunate fate awaiting Joe Biden.

In June, Barack Obama’s $850 million museum opened to wild fanfare in Chicago, while Donald Trump’s $1 billion future presidential library, a gleaming edifice draped in gold, is expected to tower over Miami.

Meanwhile, Biden now potentially faces the ignominy of having no new building at all.

‘No real library will ever be built,’ one major Democratic donor told the Daily Mail. ‘Sadly, for him, that ship has sailed.’

Shunned by donors, lambasted for what they see as his selfishness and failure, Biden has become a former president not even Democrats want to remember.

The records from his administration are currently held by the National Archives, administered from room 1501 on the first floor of a government facility in Maryland. Where they will end up is anyone’s guess.

Joe Biden faces the ignominy of amodest presidential library compared to President Obama or President Trump

Hige crowds gather at the opening of President Obama’s presidential center in Chicago in June

According to the latest tax records filed by the Joe and Jill Biden Presidential Library Foundation, for the financial year 2024, it had $4 million in funding, all of which was left over from the failed 2024 campaign.

The foundation had spent just $21,348 on equipment, according to the filing. Another tax form suggested it hopes to raise $11.3 million, a pittance compared to Obama and Trump. Its 2025 tax return was due by May 15, 2026, but has not been filed. Tax-exempt organizations are allowed to receive an automatic six-month extension.

‘I can’t speak for other donors, only myself, but I will not be contributing to it,’ John Morgan, a top Democratic donor, told the Daily Mail in a statement.

‘While I still have deep respect for the man I once knew, his legacy was tarnished by the decisions of those closest to him.’

That is a sentiment held by many who feel Biden was let down by advisers who pushed him to seek reelection in 2024, despite concerns about his age.

It led to the debacle of the first presidential debate against Donald Trump, in which Biden delivered a catastrophic performance.

Christina Aguilera performs at the ceremony for the opening of the Obama Presidential Center

An AI-generated image showing renderings of the proposed Donald J. Trump Presidential Library and Museum in Miami

Initial intentions for Biden’s library were said to have involved hopes of raising several hundred million dollars to create an ‘immersive museum.’

In September last year, the former president announced the library would be in his home state of Delaware but there has still been no confirmation of a site.

According to records released by the Mayor of Wilmington’s office to Spotlight Delaware under freedom of information laws, officials from the city have been working with Biden representatives. The mayor’s office declined to also release them to the Daily Mail on the grounds that the application was not from a Delaware citizen.

The records showed that, in March last year, a Biden official emailed the mayor’s office to say his team was ‘working to get the lay of the land regarding potential sites in Wilmington’ and they wanted to know more about plans for economic development.

The Biden team was particularly interested in an area called Riverfront East along the Christina River and asked for a ‘deep dive’ into it.

Two weeks later there was a meeting in Wilmington between city and Biden officials.

A 38-page presentation produced by the city showed how Riverfront East had been transformed by the state-funded Riverfront Development Corporation using financial incentives to stimulate private investment.

Biden’s team has expressed an interest in a site at the Christina River in Wilmington, Delaware

Biden’s presidential records are currently stored at a National Archives site in Maryland

It said zoning laws would allow for a maximum six-story building.

The plan also said there was ‘an availability of construction funding,’ with $48 million of $60 million allocated to the area by the state of Delaware spent so far.

The Mayor of Wilmington’s office did not respond to a request from the Daily Mail on whether that meant state taxpayer money could be used toward any library project.

The Presidential Libraries Act of 1955 bans federal funds, but not state ones, being used to build presidential libraries.

Also detailed in the presentation was an area in downtown Wilmington near the former headquarters of MBNA, the financial services company

Biden was once dubbed the ‘Senator for MBNA’ because it was his biggest donor during his time in the Senate, and also hired his son Hunter when he was in his 20s.

A separate cost-effective option for the eventual home of Biden’s presidential documents is his alma mater, the University of Delaware.

The University of Delaware, where there is already a Biden School, may provide a home for a Biden presidential library

Biden’s senatorial papers are stored at the University of Delaware, where Biden studied

It already has his records from his time in the Senate and as Vice President, and in 2018 opened the Joseph R Biden, Jr School of Public Policy and Administration, raising the possibility of housing the presidential documents in an existing building.

In February, Biden joined members of the 13-strong board he has appointed to oversee the library project for a private dinner at Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania.

The only record of the event appeared to be a brief Instagram post by his daughter Ashley.

‘I am grateful to all who acknowledge, celebrate, and honor Dads lifetime of public service,’ she wrote.

The office of the Joseph R Biden Jr. Presidential Library at the National Archives Records Administration in Maryland said it does not handle funding or construction issues.

‘To date, President Biden has not indicated his intentions with regard to a Presidential Library,’ a representative told the Daily Mail.

The Office of Joe and Jill Biden did not respond to a request for comment on how much has been raised, or whether a site has been chosen.

Biden himself has been focused on his book Promise Me, America, which is due out after the midterms on November 17.

Biden attended the star-studded opening of Barack Obama’s presidential museum in June

Donors remain irate at him for his decision to attempt to run for a second term in his 80s, which ultimately led to Kamala Harris taking over and being defeated by Donald Trump.

Amid lingering frustration, insiders say money that could have gone to Biden’s library project is being directed instead to Democratic campaigns in the midterms.

One official who worked with Biden in the White House previously told the Daily Mail he was ‘selfish,’ had found the presidency ‘intoxicating,’ and surrounded himself with advisers who were not ‘willing to speak truth to power.’

‘They did the country a disservice, but ultimately, the buck stops with him, and he bears the responsibility for what was a very reckless decision,’ they said.

The Presidential Library system began in 1939 when President Franklin D Roosevelt gave his records to the government and donors raised money for a library.

Since then, all presidents have taken similar measures to preserve their legacy, with some magnificent buildings created in the process.

Biden’s book is due out after the midterms and he is said to have been focused on it in recent months

The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library pictured in Simi Valley, California

The privately funded cost for the buildings has soared exponentially, even before Obama and Trump.

In 1997, the George HW Bush library cost $43 million. Bill Clinton’s was $165 million, and George W Bush’s $500 million.

Delaware Governor Matt Meyer has previously welcomed Biden’s decision to base his library there.

Meyer said: ‘To Delaware, he will always be our favorite. The new presidential library here in Delaware will give future generations the chance to see his story of resilience, family and never forgetting your roots.’