Trump gets Blindsided as Judge may Cancel UFC Event

0:00Seriously, why aren't Democrats in Washington doing more to stop Trump? I know. Have you heard about Phil Weiser in Colorado, though? No. Is he different? Yeah. A.G. Weiser sued the Trump administration 65 times. He's beating Trump in court again and again. Things like protecting Obamacare against Trump's illegal tariffs. And he even won against Ticketmaster. So he actually gets results. Exactly. As governor, Phil will fight for Colorado. Paid for by Phil Weiser for Colorado Registered Agent Anna Noskezi. This is a Monday.com ad. TheSameMonday.com helping people worldwide getting work done faster and better.

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1:00Michael Popok:Donald Trump may not have to worry about celebrity A-listers turning down Dana White of the UFC and his invitation to attend a UFC 250 fighting match in a cage on the South Lawn of the White House much longer. because a new lawsuit's been filed over the last 24 to 48 hours by Public Integrity Project. And they're asking Judge Amit Mehta in the District of Columbia to shut down this boondoggle that would also desecrate the hollowed grounds of the Lincoln Memorial as UFC fighters drop to their skivvies with Lincoln in the background. You know, the citadel to commemorate the memory of our greatest president, Abraham Lincoln?

1:49Michael Popok:Yeah. And where the I have a dream speech was given? Right. That shouldn't be where the UFC fighters weigh in now, should it? June 14th, circle that as a red letter day on your calendar. That's Donald Trump's birthday. But he's trying to package this whole for-profit event, which is being sponsored not only by TKO, Dana White's company, Dana White's company that Donald Trump invested in, but also by a Singaporean company called Crypto.com. Yes, our nation's birthday brought to you by Crypto.com. And Donald Trump's trying to shove everything under this giant carpet of, it's just the America 250 celebration, everybody.

2:37Michael Popok:Just happens to be on my birthday. Well, wait till you hear what this lawsuit has to say to Judge Mehta about that. They're waiting patiently to hear from the judge about their temporary restraining order request. should be any day now that he pulls everybody into court. In fact, programming note, I'm going to have Brendan Ballew of the Public Integrity Project, who's handling three major cases now that we've been talking about on air. Katie Fang's Epstein-Files case, the Jan 6th officer's case against the Anti-Weaponization Fund, and now going after the UFC and Donald Trump. I'm going to have him on to be interviewed for an exclusive briefing tomorrow on Legal AF.

3:19Michael Popok:Let's get to Susan Douglas and Paul Romano versus the National Park Service. Here's what they have to say, reading from the new complaint. That the plan to have a night of cage fights on the South Lawn and a weigh-in and face-off at the Lincoln Memorial with a massive structure now under construction just steps from the executive residence is deeply corrupt. Paragraph two, the president is giving White, Tiana White and his company, what none have enjoyed, unfettered access to the White House and Lincoln Memorial to stage a private for-profit sports event with all the promotional and branding opportunities that accompany such success.

4:04Michael Popok:UFC is selling the VIP packages for between one and one and a half million per head. One executive in paragraph three recently called this fight the greatest earned marketing tool of all time. Look who's involved. The Singaporean cryptocurrency agency, Crypto.com, and others are clamoring over each other to see their brands plastered adjacent to the executive residence and the reflecting pool. Is that why the reflecting pool is now tidy bowl blue to get it ready for the UFC fight. And I thought, time out from the complaint, I thought there were national security implications of holding events at or near the White House.

4:44Michael Popok:This is why we needed the ballroom. They just told the appellate panel two days ago during the ballroom argument that this was a security risk, a knitted hole to protect the president, the most shot at president in history. And now, but it seems to be okay to put a giant UFC fight claw stage next to the White House as long as money's involved. Is that it? If I were the lawyers for the ballroom case, you know, again, the National Trust, I'd be filing a supplemental briefing and record briefing to expand the record to include the UFC fight. But it continues. Who else is involved? The broadcast partner, of course, Paramount Sky Dance, run by Larry and David Ellison, father and son, and for an$8.99 Paramount Plus streaming subscription, just as our founding fathers had envisioned.

5:40Michael Popok:Now, Donald Trump says, it's my 80th birthday, so I can do anything. The lawsuit says, no, you can't violate the National Park Service regulations, law, permitting. The only excuse, the only out is if it's related to the 250th birthday, not Donald Trump's birthday. Let me go over the, and there's environmental regulations and restrictions all being violated. We'll put up so you can take a look at the construction that's going on as I'm recording about this claw. You know, listen, I like the movie, but that doesn't mean I want to see it on the south lawn of the White House. now let's turn to the lincoln memorial shall we hopefully you've been there if not you need to go in your lifetime it is a hollowed ground it took my breath away i took many videos and photographs i stood for an endless what seemed to be an endless period of time staring at the inscriptions from speeches if you will sermons by abraham lincoln in this citadel of democracy and a pantheon that is dedicated to our most successful, our greatest president in Abraham Lincoln.

6:51Michael Popok:And this is where the UFC Freedom 250 weigh-in is going to be. Along with the nearby war memorials, the Lincoln Memorial is one of America's Republic's most sacred monuments. Paragraph 79, paragraph 80 inscribed directly over President Lincoln's statue, you know, or the seated Lincoln, says, in this temple, as in the hearts of the people for whom he saved the union, the memory of Abraham Lincoln is enshrined forever. I got chills down my spine reading it. The memorial South Chamber is inscribed with Lincoln's address at Gettysburg, which promised that, quote, government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth, close quote.

7:37Michael Popok:The North Chamber is inscribed with Lincoln's second inaugural address, in which he exhorts a war-weary nation with the following, quote, With malice towards none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves with all nations. The 18th step on the memorial bears the marker for the spot where Dr. Martin Luther King delivered his I Have a Dream speech in 1963.

8:20Michael Popok:It's also part of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. And then they say in 86, this is the final shiv. Many descriptors may be applied to a UFC weigh-in. solemn and moving are not among them instead each fighter faces off just after weighing in the events tend to be raucous profane and sometimes violent affair at one of them sean strickland called his opponent kamzat chemaev a son of a whore and a bitch this is paragraph 88 i'm reading from at ufc 229 conor mcgregor lunged and then threw a kick at his opponent opponent this is not the weigh-in, like the Lincoln Memorial. Khabib Nurmagomedov. McGregor later referred to him as a mad backwards C-word and taunted his Muslim faith by offering him whiskey.

9:20Michael Popok:There's been fights that have broken out as well. We've got Crypto.com presenting it and all of it, and money flowing back ultimately through Donald Trump. They've asked Judge Mehta to declare that this is in violation of law, agency action, that there was an environmental review, that they have been erecting structures on federal parkland without congressional authority, violating National Park Service law as well. And they want an injunction to stop it before the 14th. We got five or six days left. Now, Brendan Ballou, along with his partner, are going to be joining me tomorrow for an interview, having filed this case.

10:07It's organizations like the Public Integrity Project, Democracy Forward, Democracy Now!, and NAACP and the ACLU and states attorneys general that are holding this administration

10:23Michael Popok:accountable. They're the ones going after the anti-weaponization fund. They're the ones that are stopping the ballroom. They're the ones that are stopping other desecrations of monuments in Washington. We're getting close to having a lawsuit filed, I'm sure, about the Ark to Trump, the 250-foot monstrosity. That'll cast a shadow, literally, over all of Washington and the other monuments. as Donald Trump, according to his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, has some sick fascination for giant gold medallions that he wants to place everywhere. You know, as if, you know, like some Roman emperor, I was here, you know?

11:06Michael Popok:I got news for Donald Trump. It may cost us billions of dollars, but if the Democrats get control and the polling right now and the predictive markets all believe that the Democrats are going to take the House, the Senate, and the presidency in 2028. And of course, the House and the Senate at midterms. If that happens, the new president's going to spend time ripping down and changing all the names. If that ballroom somehow gets built, I think it should be rededicated as some sort of museum to Donald Trump's treason and impeachment. it. You know, just take his name off everything that they can.

11:46Michael Popok:They will do that. Trump already sees the writing not on the wall. He's not, as of right now, he's not appealing the teardown of the Kennedy Center names, the Trump name from the Kennedy Center. That's something he hasn't yet appealed. Even he knows he's gone too far. We've got to continue to keep his feet to the fire. We've got to continue to platform these issues. I'll update you on this fast-moving story with Brendan Ballou joining me on Legal AF to talk about this UFC lawsuit. Join me on Legal AF, hit the free subscribe button. And so many people, hundreds of people have taken advantage, I think over a thousand over the weekend on our Legal AF membership and paid subscriber drive.

12:30Michael Popok:Become one of them. Come over to Legal AF Substack. Join me there. That's where I do that fast reporting in real time on Legal AF Substack. And I do a live report every day at about 1230 p.m. Eastern time. Join me there. So until my next report, I'm Michael Popok. Can't get your fill of Legal AF? Me neither. That's why we formed the Legal AF Substack. Every time we mention something in a hot take, whether it's a court filing or a oral argument, come over to the Substack. You'll find the court filing and the oral argument there, including a daily roundup that I do call, wait for it, Morning AF.

13:05Michael Popok:What else? All the other contributors from Legal AF are there as well. We got some new reporting. We got interviews. We got ad-free versions of the podcast and hot takes. Where? Legal AF on Substack. Come over now to free subscribe.

13:30though? No. Is he different? Yeah. A.G. Weiser sued the Trump administration 65 times. He's beating Trump in court again and again. Things like protecting Obamacare against Trump's illegal tariffs. And he even won against Ticketmaster. So he actually gets results. Exactly. As Governor, Phil will fight for Colorado. Paid for by Phil Weiser for Colorado registered agent, Anna Noscasey. Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. I don't know if you knew this, but Anyone can get the same premium wireless for$15 a month plan that I've been enjoying. It's not just for celebrities. So do like I did and have one of your assistant's assistants switch you to Mint Mobile today.

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