The U.S. might be struggling to reach a deal with Iran to end the war, but that’s not stopping President Donald Trump from focusing on other pressing matters, namely his birthday celebration.
The president welcomed a group of UFC fighters into the Oval Office on Wednesday, where he showed off plans for the fight on the South Lawn of the White House scheduled to take place on June 14.
The event is part of the 250th anniversary celebration of American independence, but the biggest fight happens to coincide with Trump’s 80th birthday.
“Our country is invited to this. It’s free,” Trump said, holding up a book of images. “This will be the greatest show on earth.”
He said 75,000 to 100,000 people will be able to view the fight on screens in the park, while some 4,000 will get to watch by the “front door” of the White House.
“It’s going to be June 14th, and it’s going to be great,” Trump declared. “These are real warriors. When we talk about warriors, these are warriors.”
The president took a few questions from the reporters standing by as the fighters, including Justin Gaethje and Ilia Topuria, looked on.
While the president wanted to talk about the UFC fight, he was immediately grilled about the war in Iran.
Trump claimed that talks were going well and declared, “I think we won,” but he also admitted that he thought discussions were going well in the past, only to have them come up short.
“We’ve had some good talks before, as you know, and all of a sudden, the next day, they’re like, they forgot what happened,” Trump said.
It comes as the Trump administration has been sending contradictory messages over the past two days. Trump’s top officials publicly touted so-called Project Freedom in the Strait of Hormuz on Monday and Tuesday while Secretary of State Marco Rubio claimed Operation Epic Fury was over.
Tuesday evening, Trump announced he was pausing Project Freedom, claiming progress had been made. By Wednesday morning, he had posted about a vague agreement Iran needed to consent to and warned if they did not, bombing would restart.
“You talk about regime change, their first-level leaders are dead, their second-level leaders are dead. Some of their third-level leaders are dead. I call that regime change, but I thought we’d be down,” Trump said in the Oval Office on Wednesday, before talking about the stock market.
When it was pointed out Iran was firing on the U.S. in the Strait just two days ago, Trump declared “a few days ago is a long time ago in the world of war.”
