The WH's UFC Fights Will Go On, Judge Rules

A federal judge ruled on Friday that the White House is allowed to stage a UFC show this weekend in an elaborate ring built on the South Lawn to celebrate the nation's 250th anniversary, on what will be President Trump's 80th birthday. US District Judge Amit Mehta rejected a legal advocacy group's request to block organizers from using the White House lawn as the venue for Sunday's planned UFC mixed martial arts event, per the AP. Mehta concluded the plaintiffs likely don't have legal standing to challenge the event and have failed to prove they'd suffer irreparable harm by the event going forward. The judge also cited the plaintiffs' "unreasonable delay" in suing to challenge an event that's been in the works for months.

Attorneys from the nonprofit Public Integrity Project sued to challenge Trump's "UFC Freedom 250" 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 steel structure called the Claw. The plaintiffs' alleged "aesthetic harms," the judge noted, are temporary, as the Claw will be disassembled starting Monday morning, and staging equipment at the Lincoln Memorial must also be removed before then. "The president's musings about permanency of the Claw does not move the dial in the face of a White House official's clear representation," the judge wrote.

The White House called the lawsuit a baseless attempt to prevent Trump from hosting an event that's no different from many others routinely hosted at public forums in the nation's capital. Trump's administration can't issue permits for sporting events on the South Lawn or at the Lincoln Memorial, where UFC fighters had been set to hold a press conference in front of fans on Friday, according to plaintiffs' attorneys. They noted that the event is a privately organized, for-profit business venture, with VIP packages costing millions of dollars.

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." "This isn't a case about a sporting event, it's 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.