The Government of Donald Trump has announced today the launch of "a campaign to dismantle the threat of the International Criminal Court" to the United States and its allies. "They do not know the names of their judges, prosecutors, or their president, but they are at war against us. Not with bullets and missiles, but with statutes and what they call International Law (...) they threaten every pillar of our political and legal system (...) and our troops for the crime of defending our nation. It will never happen (...) We will dismantle it brick by brick if necessary," promised Secretary of State Marco Rubio, stating that "the International Criminal Court seeks to become the unquestionable arbiter of a new global law, empowered to prosecute and arrest our citizens at will and existentially threaten American sovereignty."
Among the next steps, not only are diplomatic pressures warned to urge countries that ratified the Court's statutes to withdraw, but also visa withdrawals and more personalized sanctions, which would prevent those affected from basic things like traveling, having credit cards, or an account in any bank.
"The campaign contemplates a comprehensive government response to systematically disable the ICC's ability to operate, pursue American military or officials, and in any other way, threaten American sovereignty," says the statement from the State Department, pointing out how the Court "claims authority to prosecute and even imprison American military and officials acting in defense of the national interest of the United States. Americans never agreed to this, and all U.S. presidents since the ratification of the ICC have maintained that it has no jurisdiction over American citizens.
They now seek to become a global arbiter without accountability, positioning themselves above the nation-state as a supranational enforcement arm of a globalist bureaucracy with the power to prosecute American military and officials at will. No diplomatic option will be ruled out in the campaign to dismantle the threat that the ICC represents to Americans," warned Marco Rubio.
It is nothing new. In recent months, the White House had mobilized its machinery to punish those who wanted to investigate and judge what happened in Gaza and Lebanon by Israel, with tens of thousands of deaths, allegations of genocide, and all kinds of war crimes. But Washington has always been hostile.
Since its creation with the Rome Statute of 1998, a very important part of the American political establishment (especially in the Republican Party, but not only) has considered that the International Criminal Court (ICC) represents an unacceptable surrender of sovereignty and a risk for military and diplomats deployed worldwide. As the US is one of the most bellicose countries, with the most troops and bases, and with the most war crime allegations accumulated in recent decades, from Iran to Afghanistan, recently passing through the bombing of a school in Iran. Not to mention covert operations, drones, or the destruction of fishing boats in the Caribbean.
The fear, documented in hundreds of movies, books, or TV series, that international prosecutors and judges could open investigations is something that caused clashes with the armed forces with almost all administrations. At the time, the famous and controversial Senator Jesse Helms led the faction demanding that "an unelected and unaccountable prosecutor should never hold American soldiers accountable." His colleague, Senator John Ashcroft, who would later become Attorney General under George W. Bush, argued precisely that the Court was "incompatible with our Constitution and our sovereignty." The efforts of both led in 2002, after 9/11, to the American Service-Members Protection Act, dubbed by its critics as the "Hague Invasion Act," because it authorized the president to use "all necessary and appropriate means" to secure the release of any American citizen detained by the ICC. Something that Rubio now evokes in different words.
The Clinton and Obama administrations softened their tone and cooperated with the Court in some specific cases, such as investigations into Darfur, Libya, or more recently, Ukraine, but never ratified the Rome Statute. In 2020, Trump's first Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, called the Court an "irresponsible political institution" and accused its officials of trying to "subject Americans to their illegitimate jurisdiction." The Court has no jurisdiction over the United States or Israel" and that any attempt to act against both countries was an abuse of authority," always maintained Mitch McConnell, Republican leader in the upper chamber for two decades.
The campaign announced today, following the approval of harsh sanctions against international judges who cannot use credit cards or have bank accounts, will include "a wide range of actions aimed at ensuring that the International Criminal Court is unable to threaten US sovereignty or prosecute American citizens," says Washington.
Among the measures being considered are direct pressures from Rubio and his team to "foreign nations to denounce the abuses of the ICC and the risks it poses to Americans and other nations, urging them to withdraw from the ICC." To those who "collaborate with US law enforcement and armed forces, or benefit from US security protection" to reject "the alleged authority of the ICC to prosecute American officials and military personnel." "Increased scrutiny of nations that refuse to reject the false authority of the ICC while relying on US assistance," "revocation of visas and travel bans for ICC personnel," and "increased sanctions against the ICC and affiliated organizations."