Call it a Hail Mary attempt if you will, but a lawsuit has been filed in attempt to prevent the UFC Freedom 250 fight card from taking place at the White House on June 14.
According to a report MMA Fighting, Paul Romano, a retired Air Force Sergeant and Vietnam veteran, and Susan Douglas, a longtime civic activist and organizer, describe the event 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.”
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.
“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.”