Public Integrity Project Sues to Stop Corrupt White House UFC Fight
A Vietnam War veteran and a civic activist filed suit today asking the federal district court for the District of Columbia to issue an emergency order blocking "UFC Freedom 250," 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. 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 plaintiffs are Paul Romano of Springfield, Virginia, a retired Air Force Sergeant and Vietnam War medevac veteran, and Susan Douglas of Alexandria, Virginia, a longtime civic activist and organizer. Both work to preserve Washington's monumental spaces.
"I served in Vietnam. I've been to the Wall and seen the names of my childhood friends who stood the watch and gave their all," said Paul Romano. "The Lincoln Memorial is sacred ground, and it honors everyone who has ever worn this country's uniform. Using it as a backdrop for a for-profit cage fight so the President and his friends can make money is a desecration."
"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," said Susan Douglas. "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."
"This is a profoundly corrupt scheme to enrich the President and his friends," said Brendan Ballou, founder of the Public Integrity Project. "If this fight is allowed to proceed, it will be only the beginning, and our national monuments will become little more than branding opportunities for the rich and well-connected. We plan to stop that."
The complaint identifies three grounds on which the administration's authorization of the event is unlawful and asks the court to order the event halted:
Violation of NPS regulations. The White House South Lawn and Lincoln Memorial are federal parklands administered by the National Park Service, where sports events are flatly prohibited under longstanding regulations. The only regulatory exception, the "America250 Rule," applies solely to events "planned, organized, and executed by executive departments and agencies or the Semiquincentennial Commission." The UFC, whose CEO Dana White is a close personal ally of President Trump, is itself planning, organizing, and executing the event. Reporting published June 4 confirms that neither entity competing for the role of official semiquincentennial commission has any organizational responsibility for UFC Freedom 250.
No congressional authorization for "the Claw." Under 40 U.S.C. § 8106, no structure may be erected on federal parklands in the District of Columbia without express congressional authorization. No such authorization exists for the UFC's 92-foot, 600-ton steel structure, which the UFC calls "the Claw," that has been under construction on the South Lawn since May 26.
Cost to taxpayers. Dana White has estimated that repairing the South Lawn alone will cost $700,000. Under the National Environmental Policy Act, major federal actions with significant environmental effects require a public environmental assessment or impact statement before proceeding. No such review has been conducted or made public. The lawsuit comes as the administration is simultaneously overseeing the illegal demolition of the White House East Wing, leaving taxpayers to foot the bill for the damage to two of the nation's most iconic structures.
Romano and Douglas both live in Alexandria. Romano has run for office as a Republican; Douglas is a Democratic organizer. They are united by a shared conviction that Washington's national monuments belong to all Americans and may not be corruptly exploited for private commercial gain.
Romano served in Vietnam as an Air Force medevac crew member and later as a Department of Defense police officer. Several of his fellow service members are honored at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, which he has visited.
Douglas has lived in the Washington area for more than 50 years and frequently organizes protests at and around the Lincoln Memorial and White House. She is nearly 70 and has painful osteoarthritis in both knees; the ongoing road and park closures connected to the event, which run through June 28, have made it physically harder for her to carry out her activist work.
Along with the complaint, the plaintiffs are filing a motion for a temporary restraining order or TRO. A TRO is an emergency court order that, if granted, would halt the event while the court considers the case. Given the June 14 date, the plaintiffs argue there is no adequate remedy short of emergency relief.
The full complaint is available here.
Samuel T. Ward-Packard of the Public Integrity Project is the lead attorney on this case.