Two Virginia residents have filed a lawsuit looking for to stop the UFC fight President Donald Trump is holding at the White House as a part of celebrations for the nation’s 250th birthday.
The lawsuit, filed Saturday by the Public Integrity Project on behalf of a Vietnam War veteran and a civic activist, argues the construction erected on the White House grounds shouldn’t be licensed with out congressional approval or environmental assessment.
It additionally argues the use of the White House grounds “to stage a private, for-profit sports event, with all the promotional and branding opportunities that accompany such access” will each financially profit UFC President Dana White and Trump himself, citing a report in the spring Trump purchased $50,000 in inventory in UFC’s guardian firm, TKO Group Holdings.
The lawsuit pushes again on the assertion from the administration that the UFC match falls below the authorization from Congress for occasions to rejoice America’s 250th anniversary, saying the occasion “is not in any material sense a ‘celebration of the 250th anniversary of American Independence’—it is, instead, a celebration of the UFC’s brand and the 80th anniversary of Donald Trump’s birth.”
NCS has reached out to the White House and UFC for touch upon the lawsuit.
The White House South Lawn occasion, set for June 14, coincides with Trump’s eightieth birthday. A weigh-in for the fighters is about for the day earlier than at the Lincoln Memorial.
“The Lincoln Memorial is sacred ground, and it honors everyone who has ever worn this country’s uniform,” plaintiff Paul Romano, a retired Air Force sergeant and Vietnam veteran, stated in a information launch. “Using it as a backdrop for a for-profit cage fight so the President and his friends can make money is a desecration.”