With just one week to go before the UFC White House card finally happens, a lawsuit looks to stop that from being the case.
In a press release acquired by MMA Fighting on Sunday, a lawsuit has been filed by Paul Romano, a retired Air Force Sergeant and Vietnam veteran, and Susan Douglas, a longtime civic activist and organizer, both of whom seek to “preserve Washington’s monumental spaces.”
The lawsuit describes UFC White House as “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 event, scheduled for June 14, was conceived by President Trump and organized by UFC CEO Dana White, a close personal ally of Trump, and will benefit both men financially,” writes Samuel T. Ward-Packard of the Public Integrity Project, the lead attorney on the case.
“Trump purchased up to $50,000 in UFC parent company TKO stock earlier this spring, while White’s company is selling VIP packages for $1.5 million each, and benefiting from what one TKO executive called “the greatest earned-marketing tool of all time.” Additionally, a weigh-in for fighters is scheduled for the night before, and is set to occur at the Lincoln Memorial.”
The complaint focuses on a trio of “unlawful” grounds. The first is a Violation of National Park Service agreements, which prohibit sporting events from taking place on federal parklands, and plaintiffs say does not fall under any acceptable regulatory exemption. The second is that “The Claw” — part of the staging setup for the event on the White House lawn — has no congressional authorization, a requirement for building on federal parklands. Lastly, the complaint argues about the potential cost to taxpayers for repairs of the South Lawn.
“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,” plaintiff Susan Douglas stated. “These monuments belong to all of us Americans, not to 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.”
Per the release, the plaintiffs are also in the process of filing for a temporary restraining order, which, if it’s granted, could actually stop the event while the court looks over the facts of the case.
UFC White House, which takes place in a week, is headlined by Ilia Topuria vs. Justin Gaethje for the undisputed lightweight title.
