President Donald Trump has ordered the federal government to clear the way for one of his longtime friends and political donors to put on an automobile race in the streets of Washington, D.C. as part of his administration’s push for splashy, high-profile events around the country’s semiquincentennial celebration.
The president signed an executive order on Friday directing Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to “take steps to ensure that all permits, approvals, and other authorizations as are necessary to plan, prepare for, and conduct” what will be called the “Freedom 250 Grand Prix” race in August and to do so “as expeditiously as possible.”
