The State Department is deepening the federal government’s official ties to the Ultimate Fighting Championship, effectively vowing to globally promote a company in which President Donald Trump has a financial interest.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio held an event Thursday to sign a memorandum of understanding that authorizes what the State Department is calling “a new public-private partnership to enhance sports diplomacy initiatives and collaborate on the global growth of mixed martial arts.”
Rubio hosted the event with UFC President Dana White, a close Trump ally. And the arrangement reeks of possible corruption.
Financial disclosure forms recently showed that Trump purchased thousands of dollars of stock in TKO, the UFC’s parent company, at the same time he was promoting this weekend’s UFC fights at the White House. The purchases are just one of the reasons plaintiffs suing to stop the event have called it a “volcano of corruption,” as my colleague Jordan Rubin explained.