Sean Strickland claims he was not cleared to attend the UFC event because he ‘made fun of Israel and Epstein’

The only current men’s US UFC champion says he has been barred from Sunday’s fight card on the south lawn of the White House because he dared to criticize Donald Trump, Israel and Jeffrey Epstein.

On Tuesday night, middleweight champion Sean Strickland wrote on X that he had been informed by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that he had not been cleared to attend the event by the White House.

Lawmakers warn appointment of presidential loyalist will scuttle bipartisan agreement to renew Fisa surveillance law

Donald Trump stood firm on his decision to install the controversial loyalist Bill Pulte as the country’s top intelligence official, demanding Congress pass a short-term extension of a surveillance law set to expire amid intense criticism of the appointment.

Pulte has been asked “to execute the immediate and needed downsizing” of the office of the director of national intelligence, the US president declared on Wednesday, after lining him up to serve as acting director on a temporary basis.

President backs Pulte for acting DNI chief despite backlash that puts reauthorization of key surveillance law at risk

Donald Trump met with the House speaker, Mike Johnson, at the White House on Tuesday as pressure mounts on the president to nominate a permanent director of national intelligence, the step some Republicans now believe is the only way to save a controversial and powerful surveillance law before it expires by the end of the week.

At stake is section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a post-9/11 authority that allows US intelligence agencies to collect the communications of foreign targets overseas without a court warrant. While the program is intended to target non-Americans abroad, it can also sweep up communications involving Americans. This powerful and contentious spy tool is set to expire at midnight on Thursday.