Trump administration urges judge to reject bid to block White House UFC event

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump’s administration asked a judge on Tuesday to reject an effort to halt an Ultimate Fighting Championship event on the White House lawn ​this weekend, arguing that the event was lawful and the challengers had waited too long to sue.

Two Washington-area residents have asked U.S. ⁠District Judge Amit Mehta for a temporary restraining order to stop the Sunday UFC match. They contend that sporting ​events are barred on the White House’s South Lawn and the large metal arena being constructed for the fight lacks required approval from Congress.

The Trump administration also said in a ⁠court filing that the plaintiffs had not ‌shown they are likely ‌to succeed in their claims as they had not shown how they would be harmed.

“It would be ⁠easy enough to simply avert their gazes for the weekend,” the filing said. “Instead, they seek to enlist the ‌power of a federal court ‌to impose their idiosyncratic preferences on the rest of the country and ruin an event designed to celebrate the United ⁠States of America.”

Lawyers for the plaintiffs did not ​immediately respond to a ⁠request ​for comment.

The White House event, dubbed “UFC Freedom 250” and coinciding with Trump’s 80th birthday, plans to hold bouts inside a 92-foot-tall (28-meter-tall) octagon-shaped structure with weigh-ins at the ⁠Lincoln Memorial.

The lawsuit alleges the National Park Service and Interior Department unlawfully approved the event and seeks to set that authorization aside.

“This ⁠nation’s public monuments should not be loaned out for private exploitation,” it said.

The administration countered that the regulations do not bar events and that the White House South ⁠Lawn has a history of ‌hosting public events.

Trump’s ties with UFC date ​back to ‌the early 2000s, when he agreed to host events ​at his since-bankrupt Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. UFC Chief Executive Dana White is a close Trump ally.

(Reporting by Mike Scarcella; Editing by David Bario and Edwina Gibbs)