WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� A federal judge ruled on Friday that the White House is allowed to stage this weekend in an elaborate ring already built on to celebrate the nation鈥檚 250th anniversary 鈥� on President Donald Trump鈥檚 80th birthday.
U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta rejected a legal advocacy group’s request to block organizers from using as mixed martial arts event.
Mehta concluded that the plaintiffs likely don鈥檛 have legal standing to challenge the event and have failed to prove that they would suffer irreparable harm by the event going forward as planned. The judge also cited the plaintiffs鈥� 鈥渦nreasonable delay鈥� in suing to challenge an event that鈥檚 been in the works for months.
鈥淚n the context of an emergency application 鈥� and coupled with the fact that the UFC fight date was long ago known 鈥� it is fair to say Plaintiffs unreasonably delayed bringing suit, undercutting their claims of irreparable harm,鈥� Mehta wrote.
Attorneys from the nonprofit Public Integrity Project sued to challenge Trump鈥檚 鈥淯FC Freedom 250鈥� event on behalf of an activist and a Vietnam War veteran. The two plaintiffs also asked the court to block organizers from building anything for the event on White House grounds, including a 92-foot-tall, 600-ton
The plaintiffs鈥� alleged 鈥渁esthetic harms,鈥� the judge noted, are temporary since The Claw will be disassembled starting Monday morning and staging equipment at the Lincoln Memorial must be removed before then. 鈥淭he President鈥檚 musings about permanency of the Claw does not move the dial in the face of a White House official鈥檚 clear representation,鈥� the judge wrote.
The White House called the lawsuit a baseless attempt to prevent Trump from hosting that鈥檚 no different from many others routinely hosted at public forums in the nation鈥檚 capital.
Trump’s administration can鈥檛 issue permits for sporting events on the South Lawn or at the Lincoln Memorial, where UFC fighters planned to hold a press conference in front of fans on Friday, according to plaintiffs鈥� attorneys. They noted that the event is a privately organized, for-profit business venture, with VIP packages costing millions of dollars.
鈥淭he President鈥檚 administration is granting the UFC an extraordinary business opportunity it may not lawfully grant, and in exchange the UFC is throwing an event at which its leadership, fighters, advertisers, and various celebrities will all pay tribute to the President on his birthday,鈥� plaintiffs鈥� attorneys wrote.
Public Integrity Project attorney Brendan Ballou said the plaintiffs were disappointed in the judge’s decision but respect it and intend to “keep bringing cases to raise the cost of corruption in America.鈥�
鈥淭his isn鈥檛 a case about a sporting event, it鈥檚 about corruption, as a handful of people and companies stand to profit from our public monuments,” Ballou said in a statement.
The National Park Service and the Interior Department are named as defendants in the lawsuit.
In 2019, during his first term in office, Trump became the first sitting president to attend a UFC show. Trump, a Republican, is a friend of UFC president and CEO Dana White.
Mehta was nominated to the bench by President Barack Obama, a Democrat. Mehta has presided over other Trump-related cases, including civil litigation accusing Trump of inciting to attack the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, after he lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden, a Democrat.
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