Outside Source
On Friday, the Public Integrity Project—a firm with the mission statement to “stop corruption”—sued the U.S. government on behalf of two individuals from Virginia. The lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (D.D.C.), defendants include the Acting Director of the National Park Service (NPS) Jessica Bowron, the National Capital Region Director of the NPS Jen Nersesian, the U.S. Department of the Interior and its Secretary, Doug Burgum. The plaintiffs request that the court deems the organization of the event itself unlawful and shuts it down, while removing the structures built on the White House lawn to accommodate the fight card.
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In the suit itself, the demand for relief declares that the arrangement between the Ultimate Fighting Championship and the White House is corrupt, partially due to the personal relationship between President Donald Trump and UFC President and CEO Dana White. The lawsuit goes on to point out that the President will give “unfettered access to the White House and Lincoln Memorial to stage a private, for-profit sports event.”
Corrupt use of our most sacred national monuments for private gain
Attorney Brendan Ballou put out a statement to the Associated Press in regards to the suit. In it, he briefly the reason for why the Public Integrity Project got involved.
“This is a fundamentally private, commercial, corrupt use of our most sacred national monuments for private gain. And that is what is motivating this lawsuit,” Ballou stated.
The grounds for the suit include that the event violates NPS regulations that specifically write the NPS will not permit the staging of a sporting event that is “conducted primarily for the material or financial benefit of a for-profit entity.” Additionally, the suit offers that the construction of the UFC stage required congressional approval that was not sought. It also suggests that the required environmental impact review to build this arena in this location was not run.
The White House had a short response shrugging off the suit, positing that it was no more than obstructionism. In it, the White House remarked that this UFC show would be “no different than the various other White House-hosted events on the South Lawn and properly permitted events on the Ellipse and National Mall throughout the year.”
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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