National Park Service officials broke the law by agreeing to let Ultimate Fighting Championship bouts take place on the White House lawn, according to a public advocacy group trying to stop the event.
The Public Integrity Project brought a lawsuit in federal district court Saturday to halt the June 14 "UFC Freedom 250" bouts, arguing that the event is "a corrupt scheme to hand the White House South Lawn and Lincoln Memorial to a private, for-profit sports promoter in violation of federal law." The group also sought an emergency injunction Sunday to stop the event.
Interior Department officials in an email Sunday responded that the lawsuit "is an obstructionist, baseless, and dilatory lawsuit brought simply to prevent President Trump from hosting what will undoubtedly go down as one of the most historic sporting events in our nation's history during our semiquincentennial celebration."
Plaintiffs in the filing are Paul Romano of Springfield, Virginia, a retired Air Force Sergeant and Vietnam War medevac veteran, and Susan Douglas of Alexandria, Virginia, a civic activist and organizer.
"The president arranged to hand two of America's most cherished monuments to a private corporation so he and his allies could profit from them. That is corruption," said Susan Douglas in a statement released by the Public Integrity Project. "These monuments belong to all of us Americans, not to (UFC CEO) Dana White, not to advertisers like Crypto.com, and not to Donald Trump. We're asking the court to enforce the law because the administration refuses to."
Brendan Ballou, founder of the Public Integrity Project, called the upcoming fights "a profoundly corrupt scheme to enrich the president and his friends. If this fight is allowed to proceed, it will be only the beginning, and our national monuments will become little more than branding opportunities for the rich and well-connected. We plan to stop that."
The upcoming event has transformed the South Lawn of the White House with a large arena erected to hold the cage fights. Arcing over the ring are four steel "claws" that hold lighting for the event. Wrapped in red, white, and blue, the claws rises 92 feet above the White House.
"The president is giving 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," reads a portion of the lawsuit.
"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 filing continues. "Recent reporting has revealed that the UFC itself is selling VIP packages for between $1 million and $1.5 million per head. Recent reporting likewise has revealed that sponsors, like Singaporean cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com, are clambering over each other to see their brands plastered adjacent to the Executive Residence and Reflecting Pool. And the UFC’s broadcast partner, Paramount Skydance—which is run by two other Trump allies, Larry and David Ellison—has decided that no American will be able to take in this 'celebration of America' without first paying $8.99 plus tax for a Paramount Plus streaming subscription."
The lawsuit argues that the "White House South Lawn and Lincoln Memorial are federal parklands administered by the National Park Service, where sports events are flatly prohibited under longstanding regulations. The only regulatory exception, the 'America250 Rule,' applies solely to events 'planned, organized, and executed by executive departments and agencies or the Semiquincentennial Commission.'"
Freedom 250, created by the Trump administration to celebrate the nation's 250th birthday, is an entity unrelated to America 250, the government-created bipartisan commission to oversee the anniversary.
According to the Public Integrity Project, UFC needed congressional permission to erect the arena on the White House grounds. The group also argues that an environmental study was required under the National Environmental Policy Act because of the arena's impacts to the lawn.
"Dana White has estimated that repairing the South Lawn alone will cost $700,000. Under the National Environmental Policy Act, major federal actions with significant environmental effects require a public environmental assessment or impact statement before proceeding," the group said.
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