1 of 3 | Workers construct the octagon for the upcoming Ultimate Fighting Championship match on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., on May 29. Photo by Aaron Schwartz/UPI | License Photo
The Trump administration has asked a federal court to throw out a lawsuit alleging that a planned UFC event on the White House’s South Lawn violates regulations.
Lawyers with the Interior Department said the two plaintiffs in the case, Susan Douglas and Paul Romano, both residents of Virginia, “believe they have superior taste and want to spoil the event for everyone else.”
“It would be easy enough to simply avert their gazes for the weekend,” the Interior Department said in a filing Tuesday.
“Instead, they seek to enlist the power of a federal court to impose their idiosyncratic preferences on the rest of the country and ruin an event designed to celebrate the United States of America.
“No one is holding Plaintiffs in a jiu jitsu lock, forcing them to watch UFC Freedom 250 against their will. The public interest does not favor allowing them to exercise a heckler’s veto, particularly at this late date.”
The Trump administration is in the process of building a 92-foot-tall, 600-ton steel structure on the South Lawn to hold the UFC event on June 14, which is President Donald Trump’s 80th birthday. The event has been advertised as being part of the celebration of the United States’ 250th anniversary, which is July 4.
The lawsuit, in which the plaintiffs are represented by the Public Integrity Project, accuses the Trump administration of circumventing congressional authority and violating National Park Service regulations to construct the structure, which they said is destroying much of the South Lawn. The suit said the erection of such a structure on national monument grounds must be authorized by Congress.
“The president is giving [UFC CEO Dana] White and his company what none have enjoyed before: unfettered access to the White House and Lincoln Memorial to stage a private, for-profit sports event, with all the promotional and branding opportunities that accompany such access,” the original lawsuit reads.
“The UFC is not being coy about the event’s pecuniary nature. One executive recently called it ‘the greatest earned-marketing tool of all time.’ And he is far from the only one salivating at the business upside.”
The lawsuit alleges that Trump also stands to benefit financially from the event. In May, Trump bought $50,000 in TKO stock; TKO owns the UFC and WWE.
The lawsuit says the UFC is selling VIP packages to the event for between $1 million and $1.5 million.
This week in Washington
Chair of the House Oversight Committee James Comer, R-Ky., speaks to the press before a closed-door interview with Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates on Capitol Hill on Wednesday. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
