'Absolute chaos' as Trump hand-picks attendees for White House UFC fight

The process for distributing tickets to Donald Trump's UFC event at the White House is underway, with one source close to the situation telling NBC News that it has become "absolute chaos" as the president has elected to hand-pick attendees.

The event — promoted by staunch Trump ally, UFC President Dana White — is set to take place on the grounds of the White House on June 14, in commemoration of Trump's 80th birthday. In spite of criticisms about the event as tacky "authoritarian theater" and questions about the quality of its fight card, tickets for the event have become a hot commodity among "the heavily overlapping worlds of President Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again movement and mixed martial arts fandom," NBC explained.

"In trademark fashion, the president created insatiable demand for an event — held in conjunction with his 80th birthday on June 14 and a monthslong celebration of the nation’s 250th anniversary — with a limited supply of tickets," the report detailed. "Trump is handpicking most of the 4,000-plus spectators lucky enough, cunning enough or rich enough to score a seat on the South Lawn."

The report added later: "The president is splitting up his lion’s share of the tickets among members of the military, VIPs — a set expected to include friends of the president, members of Congress and even foreign dignitaries — and administration staff..."

Tickets for seating on the White House lawn for the event are considered to be "the big score" among those gunning for a spot, leading several prominent GOP lawmakers to become inundated with pleas for help securing them. However, "one Trump adviser and a senior Republican aide on Capitol Hill" told NBC News that the president is directly in control of "curating" the crowd for the UFC event, creating "chaos" behind the scenes.

"The process has been absolute chaos,” the adviser revealed. “It’s hard to overstate how many requests have come in, but there is no doubt the people President Trump wants there will be there, and those he does not will not be.”

Other sources have revealed that the show has become yet another avenue for big donors to funnel money to Trump in an effort to curry his favor, as they have done for his contentious ballroom project and his presidential library.

“The Trump fundraising team is raising money for it,” a Republican lobbyist directly familiar with the process told NBC. “It’s basically been added to the list of approved entities to give undisclosed money to and get credit with Trump... They are raising a s—— ton of money and have used it as another unofficial vehicle for corporate donors to give and gain favor with Trump."