A federal judge on Friday rejected a request from two Virginia residents to block President Donald Trump from hosting a card of UFC fights on Sunday on the White House lawn, CNN and The Associated Press reported.
The UFC Freedom 250, a seven-bout event, will proceed as planned on the South Lawn of the White House, USA Today reported.
U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta’s ruling allows organizers to use the White House lawn to stage the mixed martial arts event, according to the AP.
Mehta ruled that the plaintiffs likely do not have legal standing to challenge the event and have failed to prove that they would suffer irreparable harm by the event being held.
“In the context of an emergency application — and coupled with the fact that the UFC fight date was long ago known — it is fair to say Plaintiffs unreasonably delayed bringing suit, undercutting their claims of irreparable harm,” Mehta wrote, according to the AP.
The $60 million spectacle was timed to coincide with Trump’s 80th birthday, which is Sunday, and the 250th anniversary of American independence on July 4.
A political activist and retired Air Force sergeant had sued the National Park Service (NPS) and Department of the Interior last weekend, seeking a temporary restraining order to halt the “deeply corrupt” UFC match, The Hill reported. They contended that environmental review and congressional approval requirements were not followed.
Congress established a nonpartisan commission to plan events around the nation’s milestone anniversary, Reuters reported. However, the Trump administration created its own group, Freedom 250, which has scheduled events including the UFC fights and an auto race -- an IndyCar Grand Prix race around the National Mall in Washington later in the summer, according to the news outlet.
According to The New York Times, presidential historian Douglas Brinkley said there are no parallels for what Trump has planned for Sunday.
“President Reagan had Michael Deaver, who was great at doing stagecraft, setting up backdrops for Reagan to give memorable speeches,” Brinkley told the newspaper. “But Trump’s turning the White House into some kind of high-energy drink, Hulk Hogan commercial.”
“Having a giant cage in front of the White House, it’s all the moment that we are in,” Julian Zelizer, a Princeton University political history professor, told USA Today. “It’s in-your-face politics. (Trump) knows this, and he’s going to make the spectacle very visible.”
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